The Fox that wants to be a Dragon
by Lord Keiichi of Umineko
Summary: This story starts two weeks before Naruto and the others graduate. Due to a slight mistake, Naruto finds himself treated differently now. He makes many new friends and discovers a completely different side of Konoha which will change everything. He enjoys every moment. It seems like dream at the moment, however, how long can Naruto keep this dream alive before being exposed?
1. Starting: Part 1

The Fox that wants to be a Dragon

**Starting Chapter**

Part 1

Day 1

* * *

_"It's your heart that makes your brain think of solutions and your body force your way through all obstacles. As long as you don't lose your heart, there is always a path you can find." - _"That's the motto I, Naruto Uzumaki, follow in every second to become the greatest Hokage ever one day."

* * *

RIIIING!

That was the bell of the ninja academy. Finally, the boring geography lesson is over, only history is worse. Then again, other subjects don't fare much better. I grab my school bag and rush out of the classroom to have some extra training.

"The lesson is over. Train and study hard because the graduation tests are coming soon. It's ..." Iruka-sensei says, at least the part I could understand.

Soon, I'm away from ninja academy. My destination is a small clearing, not too far away from my apartment. On the way, I have some ramen for lunch. Eventually, I arrive at the clearing and set down my school bag next to a tree. This is the first three hour training session of two which are only interrupted by a short visit to my apartment for eating and drinking something.

Today, I start with taijutsu training. I walk over to the tree I wrapped something around to make it hurt less when I hit the tree. Punching is what I do first. A straight left, right hook to the side, right uppercut, left hook, … I do whatever comes to my mind. Sometimes an elbow is mixed in. This goes on until arms are burning and my fists get swollen. Some skin on my knuckles is also missing, but it will heal in no time. So far, everything healed without even a scar.

Next are kicks. High kick with the right leg, kick to the side with the other leg, right low kick, left knee, … Practicing kicks is done the same way as punches. Everything is pure intuition if you can really call it that with no opponent. After a while, my legs hurt, too.

That's how I train my offense which is bad. My defense sucks even more. With no sparring partner, it's difficult to train defending, and counterattacking outright impossible. I have to imagine an opponent so that I can block or evade his imaginary attacks for defense training. It feels really stupid and I hope no one will ever see this.

Concerning the basic physical traits, like strength, speed, endurance and also flexibility due to my improvised ways of attacking and defending, I'm one of the best. In sprinting, it's fifty-fifty against Sasuke, though in weight lifting I would own him, because I train that with logs sometimes. My classmates know how hard my punches and kicks are.

Against not that skilled opponents, that's enough. However, against opponents with good technique like Sasuke, I have to admit grudgingly that I don't have much of a chance. Spars often go like this: my opponent waits for my attack, evades it and counterattacks. I try to block or evade, too, but I'm not successful. My opponent unleashes a hail of punches and kicks and evades my punches and kicks easily. The really good ones even use them to bring out some combinations that use my force against me. After a few minutes, the spars are interrupted and the opponents wins by technical superiority, rarely by knockout since I'm used to getting beaten and taking a lot.

What I need, is better technique against them, getting good instruction on taijutsu instead of being sent out for a some minor offense or nothing at all. Once, I asked some taijutsu instructors if, maybe, they could help me a bit. They just glared at me and one of them said coldly: _'Get out! Nobody wants you here except the Hokage. You should be glad that you get anything, demon.' _After that, I tried getting some books or scrolls from the library, but they didn't even let me in. Iruka-sensei could be asked, but he helps me so much much already. I don't want to bother him with every single problem.

I continue my training with weapons practice. I pull out several kunais and shuriken out of my school bag and put them in various places (pockets, pouches, …) on me. First, I train throwing kunais when standing and in motion. Later, I repeat the same thing with shuriken. The target is a tree with red circle sprayed on it with a red dot in the middle. It's about the same size as the targets used in the ninja academy. After I have thrown every weapon, I collect the ones that missed and pull out the ones that are stuck in the tree before I start with the kunais again.

All in all, it's really tough to hit with kunais, especially in motion. I often miss the target completely then. When standing about ten meters away, I hit slightly more than half of the time, though with a diffuse picture of the hits. I'm much better with shuriken.

Owing to the valuation mode, which is the same as in the whole graduation test, I'm going to pass weapons, probably. Every single test is evaluated separately. For passing, you have to get more than fifty percent of all points. You don't pass if you get fifty to thirty percent, less and you fail. If you don't pass, you get one negative point, for failing you get two. What decides whether you pass the graduation test and the subjects weapons and chakra manipulation or not, are the negative points, three negative points and you fail completely. Because of that, I'm sure that I'll pass weapons with two negative points in throwing kunais in motion.

Feeling better, I move on to the last part for now, training for chakra manipulation. I'm going to perform the three basic jutsus: Transformation, Substitution and Clone technique.

I start with my best skill. After making certain hand-seals, I transform into the Hokage, then Iruka-sensei, Teuchi and Ayame from Ichiraku's, an ANBU and various other people without any trouble. I'm so good at it that I've invented the Sexy Jutsu, but it's not funny if no pervert is around.

Oh well, second is the Substitution technique which I have improved a lot in this semester. It was one reason why I failed in chakra manipulation last semester. I don't want to even think about the scores on my previous attempts. I substitute with different objects all over the clearing successfully. The technique failed only once in twenty times, nothing compared to the coin flips during the last semester.

I breath out and close my eyes, fully concentrating on the third technique, visualizing the result. Two clones, one clone standing on my left side, the other one standing on my right side. I take a deep breath, bring my hands together, make the hand-seals for the Clone technique and shout.

"Clone technique!"

After opening my eyes, I'm greeted to the sight of the pale, left clone swaying because of its misshaped legs. In the end, it falls in its face and dissolves. The right clone is on its knees, struggling with breathing and surviving in general. Soon, I kick it with full force.

"Damn!"

I try it again. Failure. "Damn!" Again. Failure. "Damn!"

I try it again and again. Always the same result. Failure. The only thing that changes is my swearing.

At some point, I'm too tired, not physically, not from chakra exhaustion, but mentally, and stop after countless attempts.

"I failed again."

I gather all my stuff and walk towards my apartment on autopilot. After I close the apartment door, I lean on it for support. During the walk, I have calmed down mostly.

The situation in the subjects weapons and chakra manipulation is the same, at least from the points. I'm going to fail one part, thus get two negative points, and there is some danger of not passing another part, consequently failing at the whole subject. The risk of failing at weapons is even higher than in chakra manipulation, when I think about it. These are the pure facts.

The difference between them is that in weapons, I can convince myself that it's simply really hard throwing a kunai while in motion. Many struggle with passing the subject, avoiding the negative two. The others are not any different from me. I also notice that I'm improving in small, but noticeable steps.

However, the Clone technique is only my problem. Everyone who can perform jutsus is able to form perfectly healthy clones by now. Iruka-sensei, doesn't know what is wrong either. The right hand-seals plus about any amount of chakra should do it. I worked on the hand-seals with Iruka-sensei, but the result was the same. His next idea was that maybe I was overpowering the technique. I was told to use as few chakra as possible since the jutsu doesn't require much but nothing changed. Visualization, that's one difficult word, and concentration exercises couldn't help either. All further attempts failed, too. In the end, Iruka-sensei had to give up.

Why can I still not do it? What am I doing wrong?

I sigh heavily. No possible solution for what I have to change about the jutsu comes into mind. I'm completely out of ideas. Other students learned it within the first week and I, after one year and a half, still can't do it. Every idiot who can manipulate chakra is able to do this, except for me. My left fist hits my apartment door. I'm moving in circles here.

By shaking my head, I try to get out of my funk, with not much success. I need something to lift my mood.

After pushing myself from the apartment door, I walk towards the bed, sit down on it and grab my only book that isn't a school book on the nightstand. It's my favorite book called 'The Kingdom of Light'.

The old man often read it to me and gave it to me as a present a few years ago. He mentioned that it was probably the last copy in Konohagakure, maybe even in the land of fire. I've already read and listened to the story many times, unconsciously memorized parts of it. Yet it's always a joy to read it, because it never fails to cheer me up, since it's written in such positive way. It might be made for little children, but this story means a lot to me.

On the cover is a poor village with small and dark houses and some villagers with dirty and simple clothes in the foreground. On the street stand four young people. Around them, it's brighter than in the rest of the village.

The second to the left, who stands slightly ahead of the others, is a defiantly grinning 16-year-old boy called Lion. He has blond hair that frames his face making it look like a mane, wears an orange shirt and red trousers and carries a sword on him. He is the hero of the story and wants to overthrow the evil king Kuma so that his country is freed from him. Every day, he spends many hours with training his katas, no matter which weather. At first, he is alone but he can convince the three other people to join him. Together they try to beat the evil king Kuma of the Kingdom of Light and his knights. Their first attempt fails but they get another chance. In the end, he faces Kuma again and wins. Lion becomes the new king and brings peace, prosperity and happiness to the Kingdom of Light.

On Lion's left side is Usagi. She is a 15-year-old girl with blonde hair in two buns who wears a red blouse and a white skirt. Some knives are hidden on her, although she is not very proficient with them. She is a cheerful, optimistic girl, but a real klutz, however she can get out of even the most dangerous situations in really odd and funny ways. No one can keep being negative around her, a real moral booster even in dire times. She smiles brightly and makes a victory sign.

On Lion's right side stands the oldest person of the group with 18 years, smiling slightly. Her name is Neko. She has light brown hair in a ponytail that reaches down her back. She wears a yellow top and a baggy trousers with different green and brown tones. Her weapon is a spear. In the story, she fights the king's five royal guards, Kuma's most powerful knights, at the same time and still wins. She is described as very elegant during the fights and is also smarter and stronger than Lion in my opinion but somehow lacks the charisma and drive of him. In the group, she doesn't challenge the leader position of Lion. Instead, she gives advice and dissolves the disputes, mostly between Usagi and the youngest member Kitsune.

He is the spiky, red-haired boy on the right side with a mischievous smirk on his face. He wears a too long, light blue coat which is closed. He is the tactician of the group despite being only twelve years old. His specialty are traps for what he carries a huge number of tools in his coat. I tried out a few of his traps and they work in real life, too. When Kitsune starts to get bored, he starts pulling pranks on his teammates which are always successful except for once against Neko. After that, he has a huge tantrum. I chuckle. He really can't stand any type of losing at all. His body is slightly turned like he can't wait to go to the white castle in the background.

By the way, he was also the reason that all of the books were destroyed after the Kyubi attacked Konoha and aren't sold anymore. In spite of having the mannerisms of a kitsune, he is a good guy and you sympathize with him.

In the white castle in the background, you can see a figure wearing a crown and a black mantle, crossing his arms in front of his chest and laughing. This scumbag is the king of the Kingdom of Light, Kuma. He lets his people suffer, watching and laughing at their misery while enjoying his own wealth. Many attempted to overthrow him but he could fight off all attacks since he was the strongest person of Light and a very good swordsman. In the end though, he loses to Lion. He leaves the crown and flees.

In my opinion, the most important and strongest figure is missing on the cover. His name is Takou, a very old, huge, red dragon that can fly and spit fire. He always has at least a small smile on his face and gives things a funny spin. His goal is to make the world a happier world in general, which also affects the heroes and me.

He appears only in the middle of the story after the failed attempt. When Lion, Usagi, Neko and Kitsune get cornered by the knights, Takou appears from the sky spitting fire at them. The fire and the wind caused by his wings push the knights back. He lands in front of the group and flies away with them on his back. For one month, Takou is training them hard in funny, but in the end effective ways. The body, the brain and what he emphasizes the most, the heart.

_'It's your heart that makes your brain think of solutions and your body force your way through all obstacles. As long as you don't lose your heart, there is always a path you can find.' _These words are Takou's parting words while fighting off many knights without trouble.

Particularly, Lion takes Takou's lessons to heart. His goal changes from merely beating Kuma to becoming a true leader for the people in his country. His mind changes, too. He thinks about alternate ways of fighting, which decides the fight against Kuma in the end. When they are close, blade against blade, Lion not giving an inch by pure determination, he suddenly makes small step back and then kicks against Kuma's hand who lets go of his sword which flies a few meters away. Disarmed, Kuma surrenders directly after that.

Without Takou, that wouldn't have been possible. He gave them the strength to realize their desires. Not only that, he also gave me the strength to continue pursuing my dream to become the strongest ninja in the world and future Hokage. There is always a path you can find, as long as you don't lose your heart, and I won't! Believe it!

Yeah, I feel much better now. I stand up again energetically and set my book back on my nightstand. As much as I'd like to just read it, you can't become Hokage by just sitting around. I have to train, train and train. I have to chuckle. That sounds really like something Lion would say. I guess I'm a lot like him though I wonder how it would be to be Takou, a real dragon. Maybe not a real dragon, but a human that is exactly like him.

Hmm, sounds interesting. I move over to my full-length mirror. What would Takou look like if he was a human? Lots of red, smiling, strong, wise, old, wearing casual clothes, no too fancy stuff on it. I bring my hands together and the hand-seals for the transformation technique.

My spiky hair turns red. I grow a some inches. The baggy, orange jumpsuit transforms into red slacks and a red shirt. Moreover, I get old and wrinkly like the old man Hokage. It feels a bit uncomfortable. Overall, I'm not satisfied with the result.

First, the whisker marks on my cheeks have to go. Still, this is not good, not good at all. I rub my forehead. What's wrong? Then I hit the palm of my hand with my fist. "The age!" Takou may be centuries or millennia old, but he keeps his youth on the inside.

Therefore, I make myself appear younger, about three years older than my real age. Also, I turn the red slacks into cerulean trunks to fit with the youthful image and because Takou likes the sky. Another idea pops up and an image of a dragon appears on the shirt.

I want to continue but my stomach loudly reminds me of why I usually come home to begin with. I feel weak, hurry to kitchen and open the fridge. It's all empty except for a milk carton. I shrug and drink from it. Pfff! Coughing, I walk over to the sink and wash off the bad taste of spoiled milk in my mouth.

Next, I check my ramen storage. "WHAT THE HELL?! I can't be out of ramen, too!" I slump to the ground and pout. "Ramen left me, too."

I don't know how it got there, but a bread lies there and doesn't look too bad. I'd eat about anything right now. Great, it's as hard as a rock. Out of frustration, I throw it over my shoulder. The stale bread breaks the window and hits some guy on the street. I laugh out loud when I hear his 'Oooow'.

I bet I could do something better. I already get many ideas for good pranks on the bakery. Therefore, I write a note with 'Prank bakery' and stick it with a magnet on the door of the fridge. On my way there, I have stepped on something. It's a note from two days ago saying 'Buy groceries and ramen'. Like I need that note now! I crumble it and throw it into the bin.

After that, I grab my purse, my keys and some shopping bags. I leave my apartment. Soon, I walk on the street, though something is off. It's still the same rat hole, the same damaged houses, the same dubious shops, the same dirty streets, the same shady people, but somehow it feels different. I just can't put my finger on it.

When I pass a playground, nothing happens. Usually the parents shield their children.

I continue to walk to the market. More and more people pass me, walking, happily talking with each other, smiling, also at me, laughing, … in short, things they never did when I was around.

Normally, they keep a few meters distance from me, chatting mostly stops. Some people send heatful glares at me, other people give me cold looks and the rest ignores me. There are also some who call me names or even attack me on the street, usually from the first type.

I'm not oblivious to this, despite what many may think. I don't know if anyone could. Personally, I can't imagine it. I try to deal with it by smiling everything away. By just being happy and hopeful that it will get better instead of having to pretend that things are. When I have to blow off some steam, I either read 'Kingdom of Light', use the extra power for training or prank people, but that's the only thing I do against them.

From personal experience, I know that if you fight back, it makes people more agitated. Their attacks get more vicious and painful and the beating itself lasts longer, since it takes longer for them to calm down. It's better to endure the beating and protect certain parts of the body like the head, the groin or body parts that have already taken a lot damage.

This, now, seems so surreal. I look around. They are so different. Did I land in some sort of different Konoha? That's when I bump into someone. I turn my head forward.

A woman, maybe thirty, with long, black hair, wearing a brown dress, holding two shopping bags lays on the ground. Some groceries are spilled around her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not too bad. Nothing happened." She says smiling at me while picking up the groceries on the ground. I'm stunned. No nasty reply? Or worse? "But you should pay more attention to your surroundings and look where you are going."

Embarrassed, I scratch the back of my head. "Yeah. I will. Sorry." I pick up some items in front of me and hand them to the woman. Then she leaves.

I continue my walk to the market, thinking about what just happened. Why was she so nice to me? I can't find an answer to that question no matter how much I think about it.

After a few minutes, I'm at the market. I go to the stand where rice is sold first. The owner and I had an unofficial agreement. He gives me a sack of rice, I hand him the money, no words exchanged, just business. All in all, he is one of the nicest stand owners, especially since he doesn't charge me too much extra.

"Hello, young man, ..." I look around. He couldn't mean me. He knows me. That's when I catch my reflection in a mirror someone transports. Red hair and a red shirt with a dragon on it. I'm still transformed! That's why they behave so much different. I notice the rice stand owner still talking to me, looking slightly concerned.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Are you feeling well, young man?"

"I'm fine. I ..." ...have just noticed that I haven't detransformed yet, I couldn't say.

"Never mind." He laughs. "You must be new here because I know each of my customers by name. Can you tell me yours?"

"Uhm, yeah, ...and my name is ..." I look at myself. "... Ryu, Ryu Takou." I'm not really sure if it's smart to call myself after a figure in a children's book. However, it's no use crying over spilled milk.

"A dragon that brings great happiness, you are. A really nice name. So what can I do for you, Ryu-kun?"

"I need a sack of rice, forty pounds."

"Okay. I will give you fifty percent off as a welcoming present. Just make sure that you come back again, Ryu-kun."

"Wow, that's really nice." I can't believe what is happening right now. I pay and say good bye rather absent-minded.

The difference between Ryu and Naruto is like day and night. I'm the same person, I'm in the same place, but it's completely different. It's great to be treated so friendly, to feel like he was welcomed in Konoha, to be Ryu. However, that raises questions: What is wrong with being Naruto? If they could be so nice to him, why not to Naruto?

I walk to the next stand, deep in thoughts. Really, when I should be just happy about my situation at the moment, I think about why I can't be on other times. I shove the questions into the back of my mind and try to simply enjoy the moment. Naruto's problems are not my problems at the moment.

The next two hours feel like they were flying. It was truly great. I have a big grin on my face. I'm holding many shopping bags and not all of them are filled with groceries. Actually after I was done, I had far more money left than usual. Thus, I spent the money for other stuff like a new set of kunai and shuriken, some snacks and sweets I ate and some new clothes that fit with my new appearance. Also, a white cloth band is on my forehead, tied with a knot on the back of my head. It looks a bit like the forehead protectors of real ninjas and I feel like I'm one step closer to being one.

It was a real surprise that I got in the clothes store in the first place. Before, I only tried it once. I barely set a foot in the store before I was literally thrown out. After that, I got barred and some nasty words followed.

As a result of what has happened today, I've realized something. If I can get into this store, I can go anywhere. Konoha is open to me, all of it. Consequently, I have this big grin on my face.

Nevertheless, I should go home now. It's uncomfortable to walk around with so many shopping bags.

While I'm on my way home, I pass the playground again and stop. A few kids are playing tag. The two swings are occupied by two small children being pushed by their parents probably. Two other ones are on a seesaw and some play in the sandpit. Most parents are sitting on some benches talking with each other while some of them are playing with their kids. They glance at me, but they don't do anything else. Maybe I should ask if I can join, too. I have never been allowed to play with other kids. But now ...

"After I load off all the stuff I've bought today, I'm going to come back and ask them." I nod to myself and go on.

Eventually, I come back. I enter the playground. When an 11-year-old boy with short, black hair runs past me, I shout after him. "Hey, can I play tag with you?"

The boy turns around and looks me over. Then he whistles and shouts, or rather he tries to, but it doesn't get louder than normal talking and sounds raspy. "Someone wants to join." Seven more children gather in front of me.

A 9-year-old girl voices her opinion first. "I'm not sure if he can join. He is looks so old." Sort of understandable, I look like I'm fifteen while they are eleven at most.

"That might be a problem." A 10-year-old boy comments.

An 11-year-old girl speaks, while shooting a look I can't figure out. "He looks cute. I might date him so he should join so we can get reeeal close." She giggles in the end. I don't know why I shiver.

"I think he should be on probation." A 9-year-old overweight boy suggests.

"That's a good idea. You are officially on probation if the other members agree. And if you disappoint us we can kick you out." An other 11-year-old boy declares. He sounds like he is the leader of this group. I call him leader boy.

"I agree." The youngest member, an 8-year-old boy, replies in a small voice.

"Me, too." A 10-year-old girl says absent-minded. Yet, when she sets her eyes on me, I feel like … I don't know what it is.

The other kids agree, too.

The leader boy speaks again. "Okay, since you are now a member of our club"

"It's a club?" The 10-year-old boy asks.

"Shut up! As a member of our club, you first need a new name." Leader boy continues.

"Ah, I haven't introduced myself yet. My n-"

The leader boy interrupts me. "Stop! Names are very powerful and shouldn't be given away easily. By telling someone your real name, you reveal your identity to someone and make yourself vulnerable. You should be careful with who entrust yourself. You have to earn our names as much as we need to earn yours."

The 10-year-old boy pipes up again. "Besides, it's cool to use codenames like real ninjas."

The leader boy grits his teeth. "No more interruptions! I'm trying to be cool here. It's a tradition that we don't pick the codenames ourselves. Instead the other members give someone a name based on our impressions and what we know about the other one. The name can change over time by the way, if your request for a change is accepted. Circle!"

The kids form a circle with their arms on the back of the kids next to them. Their heads are inside.

"How can you give me a name? We have just met."

Leader boy lifts his head up and turns it to me. "We will find something. Don't worry. Also, you mustn't interfere until we have a name we have agreed on. Understood?" I nod at him. He lowers his head and whispers, but I hear him clearly since they didn't move away. "So what do we know about him?"

The youngest boy begins. "He wants to play tag with us."

"He is far older than us." The youngest girl says. Honestly, why does she focus on the age so much? And why does she make it sound like I'm middle-aged or older?

"He watched us before." All eyes turn to the 10-year-old girl. "He had many bags with him. Then he stopped there." She points towards the spot where I stood. "He stood there with his big smile looking all over the playground, the play equipment, the benches, our parents, the other kids and us." I'm really having second thoughts about asking them. She makes it sound like I'm some sort of creep. "When he did all that his eyes were sparkling. Next, he started talking to himself before he nodded to himself and left." I shake my head disbelievingly. This is coming off all wrong.

"Do you think he wants to do something with us besides playing tag?" The other 11-year-old boy poses this question. This boy has serious issues with speaking.

"I don't rule it out because I saw him, too." The 9-year-old girl adds something again. "I watched where he went. This guy went up this street and turned Right." She points into the general direction of the meant street. Wow, they also know where I live, the district at least, which has the worst reputation of all. Not good. Moreover, I get the feeling that this girl has something against me.

"So?" The 9-year-old boy asks. "What is the problem?"

"Don't you know where you are when you turn Right?" The other 11-year-old boy replies while emphasizing the 'right', though I strain to hear him.

The leader boy answers. "It's unofficially called the Kyubi's cage." Really? I've never heard of that before. "Only the worst of the worst live there. Murderers, thieves, drug dealers, certain prostitutes, rapists, child molesters ..." Oh, they can't seriously think that. I clench my fists. Mustn't shout at them, mustn't shout at them, mustn't shout at them, ...

They lift up their heads and look up at me. Most of them give me serious, calculating looks, while the three youngest ones send fearful looks at me, especially the 8-year-old boy. They all lower their heads again. In addition, the youngest ones squirm and try to get more inside the circle.

"He won't do anything to me, right?" The youngest one asks, sounding panicked. What the hell is going on here? No one answers. "Right?" He asks again in a quieter voice. For a few seconds, it's completely silent, with the exception of my gritting teeth and my cracking fists.

The 11-year-old girl speaks first. "Well, I like bad boys as long as they are cute. Even if he is a child molester or"

"I'M NOT A CHILD MOLESTER OR ANYTHING!"

All people on and close to the playground stare at me. Again, it is completely silent. My face stays red from embarrassment instead of anger now. I want to sink into the ground and not have these stares on me.

Then, I hear the sound of a suppressed laugh. I look at the eight children in confusion. The dam breaks and all the children laugh out loudly. A few hold their bellies, other wipe their tears and some roll on the ground. The youngest boy who seemed so terrified of me laughs the loudest. Everybody else continues with what they have done before.

I can't really believe what they did. "You really played a prank on me? You are all little devils." I shake my head and a smile forms on my face.

The 9-year-old boy nods with a grin. "Maybe. With the exception of one of us. I hope we didn't go overboard, too much."

Someone puts a hand on my shoulder. I look at the shoulder and see that it's the leader boy who is still laughing. "Ah, he is a big boy. He can take it. Personally, I believed I had him, but Harem Girl finished it and it was awesome." Wait, Harem Girl?! That's a codename?! I don't like it. What are they going to call me? My smile vanishes and I fear what they are going to come up with.

"What are we going to call him?"

"Oh, yeah, we didn't even get to the suggestions. Don't say anything until we have a name. How about Child Molester since he shouted it so loud?" I gulp. Please not. Something. Anything. But not this. I pray to whoever hears me. Let them decide on something else.

"That's too harsh. We put him through much so we should pick something tame " Thank you. "like ..." Come on. Something not too bad. After a few seconds, he voices his suggestion. "Geezer." I don't like it but it's far better than Child Molester. Now, it only needs to be accepted by the other ones.

"Geezer. Hmm. Okay. Your official name is now Geezer. Everyone against it lifts his or her hand." No one did.

"Yay." I mutter with no enthusiasm. However, it could have been much worse. I sigh in relief. All of this, just because I wanted to play tag once.

"So how about we play tag?" The leader boy asks me.

I guess I'm through the worst. I might as well continue. "Sure, I'm ready for anything. By the way, what's your codename?"

"It's …" I bring my ear closer to him. "… something you won't figure out."

I facefault and quickly pick myself up. "What's that supposed to mean?!" I yell.

The leader boy crosses his arms while smirking at me. "That you won't figure out my name, or is that too much for you?"

I'm about to retort when the 11-year-old girl intervenes. "Don't be so high-nosed. You might chase him away so that I won't get a chance with him." I sweatdrop at this.

The leader boy turns away, shaking his head.

"So, you are Harem Girl?" I ask uncertainly.

She nods. "You can call me Ai or Ai-chan, when we are alone." She winks at me. "That's my real name. What is more, if you seriously want to know our names, you have to gather information and think around corners. Don't expect someone to simply blurt out a name. I advise you to start with him." She points towards the boy who fortunately made the leader boy pick something else. "His name is easy to guess, even with the few things you know about us. Actually, you don't need to know him at all to guess his name. Oh, tag is about to continue, the normal version this time. Not it!" I quickly say it 'Not it!', too. Then, she runs away, leaving me with a few things to think about.

I don't know for how I was playing tag with them. During the game, I was only it once and that was because I tripped. Most of the time, I watched, rather than run away from the one who is it. Later in the game, they didn't even try. However, I had fun. They did, too. We all had fun. It truly felt great to be a part of something. I belonged to them. Eventually, we said goodbye to each other and like Ai had predicted, no more names were spilled out. I was also told that thing are going to be different tomorrow and that I should prepare myself to get wet, whatever that means.

"See you tomorrow!" I yell after them. Now, I leave the playground. I'm going to Ichiraku's ramen stand since it's already getting dark and I don't want to cook.

I don't stay at Ichiraku's ramen stand for so long. After only two bowls of ramen, I leave. Not much training was done today, because the whole second session was canceled. Nevertheless, it was totally worth it. As Ryu, I felt happier than ever before in my life. I could go anywhere, I could make friends and tomorrow could be another great day.

At last, I'm back in my apartment. I switch on the light and walk to my full-length mirror and drop my illusion. Immediately, I'm Naruto Uzumaki again instead of Ryu Takou. The only piece left of Ryu Takou is the white headband on my forehead. By making the hand-seals of the Transformation technique, I activate the illusion again. I sigh in relief, when I see the reflection of Ryu Takou in the mirror and his clothes on myself. I can always be Ryu Takou when I want to. After detransforming once more, I take off the white headband, too.

It's complete. Finally, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, 12, academy student, with all my problems. I look at my pile of school books which I despise but I don't want to fail a third time, at all costs. If I fail again, I'll be even older than my classmates. In 14 days, the last part of the Academy Exams, showing the three basic jutsus, is going to take place and I must pass. Before that are the physical exams which I have also trained for today and the written exams which I have to study hard for, as in memorizing everything and not falling asleep while learning.

I grab the thick history book which tells the whole history of Konohagakure, from its foundation to the Kyubi attack. Man, I haven't even started yet and I'm already getting sleepy. I think of going to my bed and read the book there, but then I would most likely fall asleep in minutes. Instead I go to the kitchen. Next, I put down the history on the kitchen table and sit down on the chair there, as uncomfortable as possible so that I won't go to sleep.

I start from the very beginning, the Konoha's foundation. Lots of changing my position, sighing and yawning is involved during reading. It's mind numbing, merely shoving a bunch of facts into your head. At one point, I grab a ballpoint pen and keep pushing the button at the top. The clicking noise makes me stay awake so that I get the whole reign of the Shodaime Hokage done. However, my head really hurts from reading and from the annoying noise of the pen. I'm not sure if I can recall what is told on the first pages.

For these reason, I stop. It's already pitch black outside. I yawn and go to bed where I think of the next day filled with training and studying, even though it's Sunday. No day can be wasted.

However, I will also spend Ryu Takou. I won't sacrifice this new-found joy. With a smile on my face, I drift off to sleep and dream of all the things I'm going to do. I can go anywhere, I can make friends and tomorrow is going to be another great day.

* * *

Translations

usagi - rabbit

neko - cat

kitsune - fox

kuma - bear

ryu - dragon

takou - great happiness (according to )

I won't have too many Japanese words in this fanfiction. If the meaning of the word is of significance, I'll provide a translation.

Characters

Leader boy (11): name unknown  
(other) 11-year-old boy: name unknown  
10-year-old boy: name unknown  
9-year-old boy: name unknown  
8-year-old boy: name unknown  
11-year-old girl: "Harem Girl" Ai  
10-year-old girl: name unknown  
9-year-old girl: name unknown

The descriptions of these characters are reduced to the absolute minimum to distinguish them. Their appearance is mostly unimportant with the exception of one case. This is merely to give you readers a chance to figure out their names by only giving you the necessary bits of information and not additional ones.

Also, expect Naruto to meet many new people and the introduction of many OCs.

Reviews

If you have liked reading this chapter and want other people to read this story, submit a review, please. It doesn't have to be long. A 'good chapter' or so would be nice. However, I would also appreciate constructive criticisms that point out things I have to improve.


	2. Starting: Part 2

The Fox that wants to be a Dragon

**Starting Chapter**

Part 2

Day 2

* * *

It's Sunday morning, the only free day in ninja academy. I slept in and I'm still laying in my bed. Somehow, I can't help but feel like I planned doing something early today. I stand up slowly and trudge towards the kitchen. After reading the note on the door of the fridge, I remember what I wanted to do today.

"I have to prank the bakery!" When I look up at the clock, I realize that I barely have time left. The bakery closes already in an hour. That's not enough time for grand preparations so I have to keep it simple.

I quickly stuff a bread, some meat and two bananas in my mouth. Last, I gulp down juice from the bottle, coughing a bit at the end.

Soon, I exit the kitchen and hurry to the place where I store all my pranking utensils. After letting my eyes wander over everything, I make up make my mind about what I'm going to do and grab two stink bombs, a box of matches and a small sponge. I quickly get dressed as Naruto Uzumaki and leave my apartment.

By running, I arrive at the bakery with 45 minutes left. Maybe, I could have eaten more for breakfast and not as rushed. I shrug, what's done, is done. On a chalkboard is written that today's special offer costs only 100 ryo.

I walk over there but stop half-way. It's better if I won't be recognized during the prank. I search for a small alley without people, transform into a random person there and return. I wipe away the last zero of the price, go away and watch from a distance.

Only four customers are in the bakery at most. That's far too few. I have to get more people in there. After transforming again, I run through the streets while shouting about out the special offer. Some people start walking towards the bakery. Yes, it works!

A few minutes later, I return to bakery. I see ten customers and more people enter. It's full but you can move freely. Now, it's time for the stink bombs which go off one minute after you light them. After lighting the stink bombs, I put them in two of my pockets and quickly walk to the bakery.

"I want all this for 10 ryo!"

"I'm sorry, but the price is 100 ryo."

"What do you mean? A boy ran on the street shouting it was for 10."

"What boy?"

The dispute continues between the bakery workers and the customers. I have keep from laughing out and blowing my cover. The best part has not even come yet.

After hiding the two stink bombs, I run out and stop in the middle of the street. In my head, I count the seconds.

5

4

3

2

1

Green smoke fills the shop. Immediately, people start pinching their noses, holding their t-shirt up to their noses or putting a handkerchief in front of it, everything not to smell to stench of the stink bombs. They frantically try to escape, also by pushing or pulling other people. It takes some time from them to exit because everyone wanted to be the first. All of them take a deep breath when they get out. They blink a lot and have tears in their eyes.

I laugh out loudly because of their faces and because it was another successful prank.

Then, some of my pranking victims recognize me. "That's the boy who spread the lie." "He has pulled a prank on us." All of them glare at me.

Then, I drop the transformation. Their glares intensify.

"NARUTO!" They yell at the same time.

"GET HIM!" A man shouts and charges at me followed by a few other guys.

"Ha! You will never catch me!" I turn around and run.

After a few corners, I lose them. Hah, I love pulling pranks. I love it, I love it, I love it.

There is this thrill when you are executing the trick. You mustn't get caught during the preparation or the targets will notice something is wrong and won't fall into your trap. However, even if that goes without a hitch, you only see whether the trick works as you planned after the victims set off the trap, especially in more complicated pranks. Euphoria fills your body after a successful prank, particularly when you put much work into it. It's not over though. There is the final part, the escape. The victims will be angry and will try to get revenge on you. Only, a working prank combined with a successful escape is a true victory.

While I was off thinking about pranking, I didn't realize where I went. On the right side, I see the library.

Should I enter it? As Ryu Takou, I definitely could. On the one hand, I hate books, with the exception of one. They are boring and I have enough I must read already. On the other hand, there are so many books and stuff in there that some might cover the problems I have. Maybe I can find some taijutsu scrolls. Or they could help me with kunai throwing. The more I think about it the more I realize what a great chance I have at improving. Maybe I will even learn the Clone technique.

Now, I stand in front of the imposing building of the library. So large. So many books. So much knowledge. So much to go through. It doesn't matter. "Yes. I won't let this opportunity go to waste. I will find the solutions." I look fiercely at the building before turning away going home.

Although I could simply transform myself into Ryu Takou again with clothes and even the white headband on, I won't. The smart thing would be to enter the library now, under the complete illusion, and gain more time. However, it's not an illusion I want. My time as Ryu was real, and I want Ryu to be real, too. That's why I bought all those clothes for Ryu. In the end, Ryu Takou might be only Naruto Uzumaki transformed, but I want everything else to be genuine, no fakes.

When I'm in my home, I undress, transform myself into Ryu and put some of my new clothes on, a dark red shirt with flames on it and blue jeans which are comfortable, but not suited for training. Therefore, I pack a change of clothes along with a bottle of water and some snacks in my school bag and take it with me.

Soon, I'm back in front of the library. When I enter, I'm greeted by a dusty smell. They should air thoroughly sometime. I see a small, old, gray-haired woman at the reception and pass her. For a while, I walk aimlessly around, trying to find a section about jutsus until I find a map of the library.

"There should be more of these here." I mutter.

Afterwards, it doesn't take too long. The books and scrolls I find are about jutsus in general, however no jutsu scrolls or even something about the three jutsus taught in ninja academy.

The first book I read is 'The basics of ninjutsu and genjutsu'. It explains lengthy about how chakra is produced, though it states that everything based on descriptions of very good chakra manipulators. After a few pages, I thumb only through. It goes on with chakra points and the eight inner gates whose function it is to control the chakra flow. I have to stifle a yawn. Sure, it's somewhat interesting but I want to do jutsus. Thus, I skip a few pages again.

There. How to perform jutsus. Finally. There are three steps when you do a jutsu. First, you have to gather your chakra (focusing). Next, you have to change the flow within your body according to the jutsu you want to do (chakra manipulation). Last, you have to express your chakra while giving it a certain form (visualization).

Two ways to do jutsus are presented. First, there is the direct method without hand-seals. You have to do every part of the jutsu on your own, from focusing to the chakra manipulation to the visualization which requires a lot of concentration. Chakra manipulation is what you need to concentrate on the most. It's most critical and dangerous part of performing jutsu. Doing this part the wrong way by getting distracted or having your concentration broken can leave permanent damage, possibly death. The focusing and visualization were neglected so that the jutsus were generally weaker and affected large areas instead of being concentrated. In addition, a great danger was getting killed while casting a jutsu due to being less aware of you surroundings. This is why ninjutsu and genjutsu were rarely used before the supported method with hand-seals was invented.

The big advantage of the supported method is that you have to concentrate far less on getting the jutsu right than with the direct method. This is possible because of the invention of hand-seals. Each of the twelve hand-seals stands for one way of manipulating chakra within your body. For more information, the book refers to the book 'How hand-seals work' which I'm going to read, too. Back to this second way, it's safe to make jutsus stronger and concentrate on forming the jutsus so that ninjutsus become more powerful and precise and genjutsus more detailed, harder to detect and harder to break. Furthermore, you can react quickly to attacks and adapt to other sudden changes. The only drawbacks are that you are unable to do anything with your hands during a jutsu and it is possible to predict jutsus by watching the hand-seals. For example, jutsus that often use the snake seal are earth style jutsus.

I stand up and stretch a bit. It may be tiring to read for a long time, however I have learned some useful things, too, although I still have no clue what is wrong with my Clone technique. I have worked on focusing, chakra manipulation and visualization with Iruka-sensei and he couldn't find a problem after I did the exercises except that the Clone technique didn't work.

After a few minutes, I continue with the book that was referred to. After the introduction, the first sentence I read is that the twelve hand-seals were chosen arbitrary for the twelve most common ways of manipulating chakra. In consequence, they could be substituted by any other signs in theory if you practiced long enough with them.

Wow, I didn't know that. Before I trained hand-seals with Iruka-sensei, I had enormous trouble with switching from one hand-seal to the next one. My finger got tangled and didn't end up in the correct position. Now, it's much less of a problem but I could find something far better than hand-seals. I wonder how long it would take to used to the change.

Thus, I switch to the pages that describe the training which sounds simple. You manipulate your chakra within your body consciously while making a hand-seal and repeat this over and over again with each of the hand-seals and ways of manipulating chakra until you manipulate your chakra automatically when you form a hand-seal… which takes months at best. I swallow. I don't have this much time, only thirteen days. There has to be a faster way. There must be.

I flip the next page open which shows the hand-seals with the corresponding chakra manipulation. As I feel something wrong, I stop and read more thoroughly.

This is completely different from what I have learned! Nearly all the seals are wrong! How can this be?!

With the book in my hands flipped open on this page, I run towards the entrance to the old lady at the reception. "IS THIS RIGHT?" I yell while I put down the book.

Suddenly, I get hit by a wooden sword.

"Ow."

"Shouting is not allowed in the library."

"Hey."

"Running is not allowed here either." Another hit with the wooden sword.

"Ow."

Then, the old woman pulls out a pair glasses and reads. "Everything on this double page is true."

My mind goes blank. If this is the truth, … then what have I learned … in all these years in ninja academy. They … sabotaged me. They really sabotaged me. I can't believe it.

Next, I get hit once more. I snap out of it. "What the hell?!" After the next hit, I glare at that old witch.

"The first one was for questioning the accuracy of my library. Furthermore, vulgar language is not acceptable."

"Fine." I don't want to be around her for too long. For this reason, I take the book quickly instead of arguing with her and go back with a lot to think about.

I have always known that the academy teachers hate me like the rest of the village. They sent me away from class giving me odd tasks. They punished me for nothing. They gave me more homework than the rest of my class. However, I have always thought that they taught me something about being a ninja at least. While there is a mutual dislike between me and the academy instructors, I thought that they did their jobs right and taught me real stuff. I have to shake my head at this naive belief, my blind trust. I should have known better. Really, if they can stop teaching me, why not go a bit further? What is stopping them from teaching me wrong things and feeding lies to me?

I don't like this thought, not at all. It means that all this time, from day one in academy, they never wanted me to become a real ninja. They all worked against me. Fine! I'm going to show them all and become a ninja, the best ninja in the world, despite their efforts!

The training, the studying, everything, I'm going to do it alone without their misguiding lessons. Screw ninja academy! By keeping me away from my dream, they just make want to reach it all the more. I'm going to think of a way and force myself through!

Now, I know the truth and I can start again, this time with real stuff. I look at the book in my left hand. This book doesn't judge its readers, it doesn't send them away and it doesn't lie, at least if it does it's to everyone, not just to me. It wants to be simply read and everyone who is willing to do so can expand their knowledge. I can't rely on the ninja academy so I'm going to learn here. Believe it!

First, I'm going to continue with this book 'How hand-seals work'. I read the double page with the explanation of the chakra manipulation behind the hand-seals and follow the instructions for each hand-seal to get a feeling for them. Even I know that I will have to practice a lot to undo the damage done by the instructors. Owing to these lessons, I can't perform the Clone technique, however I got the other two academy jutsus right at least.

After a while, I look up at a nearby clock. It's past 2 pm, time for training. I walk back towards the reception.

"I want to borrow this book."

"You can if you have a library card."

"Fine, can you make one." I grumble.

"An official document to confirm your identity like an identification card is necessary."

"I don't have one."

"Then, you can't borrow books in my library." The librarian says firmly. "However, you can take notes or copy passages and pages. We have enough paper for that here." She points toward a stack of paper and a container with pens next to her.

Annoyed, I grab some pieces of paper and a pen and turn my back. "I really hate her." A hit to the back of my head follows. I turn my head to glare at that stupid librarian.

"I hate you, too." She replies in a neutral voice.

After copying the double page, I pass the reception again.

"Bye, witch."

"Come back any time, brat." My right eye twitches at the last word, but I don't stop walking. I'm already late.

On the way towards my training place, I try to train, too. While I twitch my fingers at my side, I attempt to manipulate my chakra. People still look at me, but it's nothing compared to the stares when I did real hand-seals. Even during my lunch at Ichiraku's, I don't interrupt my training.

Eventually, I get to my clearing. First, I'm going to practice taijutsu. All this sitting around has made my muscles tense. For this, I need to change my clothes.

I take off my shirt when …

"Eeep!" It was loud and disappeared as soon as it came.

I stop and look around, but I notice nothing suspicious. All I see are grass, trees, bushes and some insects that make a buzzing noise.

I shrug off my shirt. It must have been my imagination. Then I open my jeans and slide them down.

That is when I hear a thumping noise like something, or rather someone I think, fell down. I pull up my pants and run towards the forest where the noise originated from.

"Hinata-chan? What is she doing here?"

She is laying on the ground with a red face which she always has for some reason. She may be weird but she has never been mean to me.

I guess I should wake her up. Okay, how? I kick her lightly in the side a few times. No reaction. Hmm. I kneel at her side. I knock on her head which makes her twitch. Good. I lean a bit closer. "Wake up!"

Instantly, she gets up. Our heads knock against each other, eliciting two 'Ow's from us.

"Naruto-kun! I'm sorry! Are you fine, Naruto-kun?" Hinata says panicked while getting into a sitting position.

"Don't worry, I'm sorry for scaring you and I'm okay. I've got a hard head." After that I notice how Hinata called me. I look down on myself. The transformation is still on, so I'm still Ryu Takou. I stare directly in her eyes at which Hinata blushes. "How do you know?"

"Eh, what?"

"How do you know I'm Naruto?"

Hinata looks down whereupon she blushes even and starts pushing her fingers. "Ah, it's t-the byakugan." What? "Y-you can see through all illusions with it, Na-Naruto-kun."

This day started so well, but now it takes a nose-dive. First, I find out I have learned crap at the academy. Next, my transformation can't fool anyone with a byakugan and get reminded that I'm always Naruto.

"Erm, what is wrong, Naruto-kun?" She asks me carefully.

I sigh. After a few seconds, I respond. "Can you call me Ryu? And don't tell anyone about this." "Promise me!"

"O-okay, I promise. Ryu-kun?"

Somewhat relieved, I sigh. I stand up and walk back to where I train. "Do you want to come with me?"

Then Hinata follows me. Behind me, I hear her trying to form words, maybe ask a question.

Thus, I address her. "What do you want to know, Hinata?"

"You-your transformation ..."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's still active."

"So?" I'm transformed and she sees through it. Where does she want to go with this?

"When I hit your head, the force behind it should have been enough to dissolve the illusion. In addition, you are taller now, but when I hit you it was solid instead of an image."

"I have no clue what you are talking about."

"The Transformation technique creates only an image on yourself which is the reason why you should transform into something that has about the same size or form. Since you appear taller, my head should have simply gone through your image and dissolved the illusion. However, not only did I meet solid resistance, but the transformation stayed."

"Huh, that's completely different from what I've learned. The instructors said it was a solid transformation with different voice, scent and other stuff."

Once Hinata shakes her head, I remember what I have found out today. At the moment, I'm not sure what to feel. On the one hand, those bastards didn't teach even my best skill properly. On the other hand, I've created a version that is far superior to the normal thanks to them. In the end, the feeling of being better than the rest of my class wins.

"Hey, can you touch me here everywhere?" I move my hands up and down on my body. "I want to know if all of this is true, Hinata." I want to live as Ryu Takou.

Blushing heavily, she stutters. A lot. "E-e-eve-ry-where?" Wow, if she goes any redder, she is going to burst or so.

I nod. "Yes."

Blood shoots out of her nose, her eyes roll back and she faints.

I move quickly to catch her before she hits the ground.

"Seriously, what's wrong with her?" I put her down at a tree. While I don't know why she fainted, I know that I caused it and I'm going to make it up to her.

Finally, I change my clothes and pull my hand-written copy of the hand-seals out of my school bag. However, I remember that I planned to do a bit taijutsu first.

Mainly, I want to move after sitting for a long time which is the reason why I run around and try out various punch and kick combinations that I have seen before or just invent on the spot. A few minutes later, I stop because actually I want to focus on chakra manipulation.

I think I will continue with my finger twitches as it's much easier to consciously manipulate chakra with them than with the real hand-seals I have used before. Maybe I will find something else besides finger twitches but I will stick to them for now.

First, I start with the mouse twitch. In my opinion, it's fitting since it's not the real hand-seal for rat. I have also thought of other names for my mock hand-seals like worm for snake or pony for horse. I go through all the ways of manipulating chakra with my new hand-seals.

Eventually, I notice Hinata watching me intently and smile at her while continuing my exercise. "Hey, Hinata. You are awake. Sorry for making you faint."

She blushes, I hope she doesn't faint again, and nods.

"So what do you think of my training?"

"Y-you train really hard. However, there are some mistakes."

"Hmm. Okay, like what?"

"Erm, the hand-seals are wrong but I think it is done on purpose." I nod at this. "At the beginning, you use too much chakra. If you continue like this, you will destroy your chakra coils. First, you have to develop your chakra control by handling small amounts and specifically train the way of manipulating chakra before you can add more power to it."

"This isn't that much chakra. I've kept it really low."

"W-what?" Hinata sputters. "Can I have a look at you with my byakugan activated? This way I can see your chakra coils and your chakra pathways."

I shrug. "Sure. Go ahead."

After Hinata whispers 'byakugan', veins appear around her eyes and she stares at me intently. Immediately after the activation, she gasps. "In-incredible. How can you do this? How can you survive this? It's s-so much chakra. I think I see why your transformation is different. You have much more chakra points active in addition to those required for the normal transformation making it advanced and far more chakra than necessary runs trough them meaning the transformation gets more durable."

"Say Hinata. Can you test the limit? Punch me full force."

"I-I can't do this, Na- Ryu-kun."

"I need to find out. I don't want my transformation to dissolve in the middle of the street. It's better to be Ryu than Naruto and I want to keep on being him. After I created this illusion, I didn't release it accidentally and I spent some wonderful hours in Konoha."

For a few seconds, Hinata says nothing. "But it's only an illus-"

"It's more than that! It's my escape from the loneliness, from the anger, from the frustration, from the violence and my ticket to great happiness!" I tell her about my time as Ryu yesterday and how different it was in comparison to the life as Naruto. How everyone was so nice to me. They were all welcoming, helpful, generous, friendly and happy around me. Naruto is something else, something that doesn't belong here, something that has to go.

A pitying look is sent to me. "I didn't know it was that bad. But Ryu is only a transformation you have forged yourself. Eventually, this lie will be revealed and you will be revealed as Naruto."

A bad taste forms in my mouth. Revealed as Naruto? That would mean the death of Ryu. In my inner eyes, I can see everything that happened to me yesterday and all my hopes as Ryu slipping away. All friends are gone. All the smiles are gone. All the glares are back. All the beatings are back. Everything is back to just Naruto. NO!

"This mustn't happen! I will maintain this forever! I won't give up this lie!" Tears are forming in my eyes.

"Naru"

"I'M RYU TAKOU! THIS IS THE TRUTH!" I lie crying.

Lowering my head, I whisper. "I will maintain this beautiful lie." "Somehow."

"Ryu."

I glance at Hinata who took a few steps back and seems frightened. "Sorry about my outburst." Then, I ask her my previous question again. "So will you punch me, Hinata?"

She remains silent for a couple of seconds. "No, I won't. I won't destroy this illusion but instead I will maintain this beautiful lie. I have already promised."

"Hinata." I whisper while staring at her disbelievingly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I run towards Hinata and hug her tightly while repeating the same words over and over. Last, I release her and give her a big kiss on her right cheek in my excitement. "Thank you so much, Hinata!"

She looks stunned and her shaking fingers reach slowly to her right cheek.

That's when I notice what I have done. "Ah, sorry about this. It was pure acci-"

During my apology, Hinata blushes fiercely when her finger touches her right cheek and she faints.

"-dent." I finish lamely and fail to catch her before she hits the ground. "Aargh! That's the second time?! ...or is it the third already?"

When I look up at sky, I see that my first training session should be over now. Then, I look at Hinata. I can't leave her here, especially after she promised that she wouldn't tell anyone. In addition, I don't want to bring her to my apartment or even the general area. I sigh, I guess I have to wait for her.

If I must wait for her, then I should spend it for something useful at least. While I trudge towards my school bag, I continue with my chakra manipulation training which is interrupted by eating snacks and taking a few sips from my water bottle. I place the snacks back, however I stop myself with the water bottle. With the bottle in my hand, I run towards Hinata and pour some water over her face.

She coughs a bit and looks up at me. "Ryu-kun?"

"Yeah. Sorry. How about I buy you something to eat and spend some time together?"

"A-are you sure?" I don't know why I shouldn't and why is she so excited? I want to make up for making her faint. I shrug mentally. Maybe, she is just really hungry or so.

"Yes." I answer firmly to leave no room for doubts. "Should we get going?" I ask her while smiling at her.

Hinata's face gets all red again. Honestly, when I see this, I fear that she will faint again. Sure, she is a nice girl for keeping quiet about my transformation and giving me advice but all this going red is ridiculous.

Soon, we are on our way to the shopping mall with Hinata walking next to me. My hand are in my trouser pockets so that people won't see my finger twitches and think I have some screws loose. Since I'm only getting used to being among friendly people and I don't know any good places to eat other than Ichiraku's ramen stand, I have decided to let Hinata pick.

When we enter the shopping mall, I'm gape impressed by all the shops with their lights and some eye-catching arrangements, the music that plays in the background, the delicious smell that comes from some fast food shops we pass and the amount and variety of the shops. It's like another world that I have never known of, all overwhelming but also intriguing. I stare at all the bright signs and inviting shops so that I have great trouble with doing my exercise properly and focus where I'm walking.

"Hey! Pay attention to where you are going!"

Unlike yesterday, I can avoid the crash this time if barely. I look into the surprised, blue eyes of a blond girl with some brown streaks. She has a little nose, a bit flat maybe but still cute and I also notice her pinkish cheeks which make her look even cuter. On her ivory skin, her reddish lips stand out. I notice nothing else around me so I can feel a slight breeze on my lips. I gulp. My eyes are fixed on her as hers are on me. Her eyes wander around my face before we stare into each others eyes again. It seems like an eternity before someone breaks this state.

"If you two lovebirds plan on continuing this, you should take a room." Comments a female voice teasingly.

Immediately, I jump back a few meters while blushing from the implication. The girl still stands at the same spot holding some shopping bags and slightly red but probably less than me at the moment. She is about 5'7'' tall. I see that she wears a ponytail which is bound by some sort of pearls. My eyes wander further down to her opened blue jeans vest and the white low-cut top underneath which shows some of her cleavage. For a few seconds, I let my eyes linger on it before they move further along her body. Sliding down her soft curves, I take a look at her white knee-length skirt, her legs which have some minor scars and her sneakers.

Why does she have scars? My eyes inspect her arms, the right one first, where I find them, too. On it, she also wears two bands made of rubber or so, a black and a white one. On the left arm, it's the same except that the bands are red and white.

"Why does Fight get all the interesting ones?"

I turn to the person who muttered this. It's a girl with long maroon hair who wears a red sundress. Her bust seems bigger than her friend's. She is a bit smaller. I guess about 5'5''. She has brown eyes. Very striking are her pink lips that glitter.

Her arms are thinner and slightly darker than her friends, also her skin is smooth without these little scars. I don't see as much of her legs but it's enough to confirm that it's the same there and she wears flip-flops.

I scratch my head embarrassed. "Sorry of nearly running into you. This is all so new for me."

"You are new here?"

"Um, yeah." After a short pause, I add. "I have just moved to Konoha yesterday."

"How about me and Noriko show you the best locations of Konoha as your guides?" For a moment, there is a certain glint in her eyes I don't know how to interpret. It seemed predatory before it's replaced by a normal, friendly look.

The other girl interrupts. "I'm sorry that we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Noriko Hosa, hers is Fight Michibiku ..." What kind of name is 'Fight'? It's almost as bad as 'Battler'. "... and we are both sixteen years old. We would like to know your name, too."

"My name is Ryu Takou, … fifteen years old." I should really devise a cover story for myself. Next, I answer the previous question in a small voice. "I'm sure I can find my way around here."

"You are rejecting two beautiful -" A hand is slapped over Fight's mouth.

"Calm down. You are too bold." Noriko whispers to Fight before taking her hand away when Fight nods. After turning her head to me, she smiles weakly. "She can be a bit very direct sometimes."

I just wave it off. "It's no problem. I don't like dancing around a topic either."

"Thank you. Certainly, there has not been much time for making new friends for you. Let's simply meet again and have some fun together. Maybe already tomorrow here." Noriko holds out her hand while smiling friendly.

I stare at her hand before taking it and smiling back. "Okay."

Over Noriko's shoulder, I notice Hinata staring at us. I flinch in consequence. I have totally forgotten about her. "Sorry, Noriko, Fight, I gotta go to Hinata-chan. I owe her something for making her faint. Bye." Next, I bow slightly and run towards Hinata.

However, the next question makes me stop. "Did she see you with few clothes on?"

I turn around to face Fight. "How do you know?"

She laughs in an amused way. I don't know why my heart starts to beat faster when I hear this melodious laugh of hers.

Her friend Noriko giggles. "This sight was slightly too much for her. You should be more careful around her, Ryu-san."

I simply nod, still not sure about why they are so amused. Eventually, I turn around again and continue my way to a red-faced Hinata, again.

"Goodbye, Ryu-san." "See you tomorrow, 6 pm, Ryu."

"What?!" I sigh but smile next. "Fine." They just want to hang out with me and show me stuff. "Hinata, do you want to come, too."

"Ah, no, I have some tasks to do tomorrow, but you can go if you want to, Ryu-kun."

"Okay."

We arrive at a small cafe soon. Hinata recommends the delicious crepes sold here so I buy a few for both of us. We sit down at a table and start eating while talking in between the bites.

After asking her about my transformation, Hinata explains in detail what she has seen with her byakugan. She points at the chakra points that are normally active during a transformation and my additional ones. In addition, about 100 times more chakra runs through them. Unlike the normal transformation during which you push most of your chakra to present your false image to the others, my transformation, however, keeps so much chakra that at first glance it seems like a normal transformation. The other 99 percent used for the transformation stay in my body, running through my chakra pathways and my chakra coils, which are stretched, bent and dislocated in ways that no one could survive except for the Akimichis who have naturally highly elastic chakra pathways and chakra coils or apparently me.

It's only her assumption but she guesses that most of the chakra is only used to heal since the way I perform the transformation is extremely damaging to my body. When I ask her to further explain this, she replies by stating that the transformation does not only superficial changes but also adjusts my natural arrangement of the chakra pathways and chakra coils which are unique to each person according to the expressed image. At my questioning look, Hinata sums up in smaller words. My transformation really changes me temporarily by giving me inner injuries that no one should be able to survive.

When she tells me this, I hold my breath and search for any hint of a lie or a joke in her eyes. Seeing none, I sag into my seat. This … I bite my lips drawing blood, not breaking the transformation. I feel my sweet blood on my tongue... This was another attempt on my life … and it would have been successful … if not for my insane healing abilities. My blood starts to taste rusty on my tongue. I swallow it to get out of my mouth and feel it trickle down my throat. It feels like my boiling blood is cutting my throat like a hot knive.

I imagine the instructors cutting me up, while I'm noticing the pain. But I trusted them … I trusted them so much that I took the knive and continued hurting myself. They smiled at me, no it's just their way of laughing at me, telling me I should keep going until I 'mastered' them or 'perfected' them. Though I never understood why some of them couldn't contain their laughter in the end. I mentally shake my head. They have told me all the time. Tch, it doesn't matter how many knives they have used on me. I'm going to pull them all out!

I motion for Hinata to continue. I want to know everything she has to say which isn't much more. In her opinion, long and repeated usage of my transformation might leave permanent changes to my real body. However, that's not bad news for me. Becoming Ryu Takou fully one day wouldn't be that bad though immediately Hinata shoots that idea down. It's a lethal, more complete version of transformation but it's only a very advanced illusion. A hard hit or a disruption of my chakra flow will dispel my transformation, too, and my chakra system returns to its normal state.

I thank Hinata for her help and say goodbye to her. In my mind, I go over the whole conversation. I really can't do anything right. My transformation is lethal except for me, my cloning doesn't work and there is probably a catch with my substitution, too.

While I walk home doing my chakra exercises by the way, I'm thinking about I have to re-learn, no I correct myself, learn what I'm actually supposed to know. All the stuff that I should have learned during those wasted years must be learned till next week, plus all the other subjects that are tested in the five days before the final test. I know I have to use every single second to catch up with everything, but can I give up all the fun I have as Ryu with my new friends?

I stop on the street. The kids on the playground. I forgot them totally.

I need to tell them I can't join them anymore. Pondering about how to phrase it, I run towards the playground and make it there quickly. I see them holding water guns.

"Hi guys, sorry. I gotta tell you -" I stop in mid-sentence when the kids point their water guns after they have pumped air into them. Some of them stare coolly at me, some grin at me, some seem even predatory and wait in anticipation. Only the nice boy and Harem Girl, I mean Ai, send me apologetic looks.

"You are late." Leader boy states with his water gun pointed towards me while grinning at me.

I lay down my backpack and hold up my hands. "Yeah, I'm sorry,"

"Yes, you will be. Because now you must play a punishment game! Seize him!" He exclaims.

Punishment game? With water guns? I shrug mentally. The only thing I have to do is not getting hit so I won't get wet.

I jump back a bit to the right side so the water from the toys passes me harmlessly. That's when I notice something wrong with the color of the water. It's yellow? "What's up with the water?"

The youngest one giggles. Thus I turn my head towards him. However, I still have to evade their attempts. In addition, I hear a few running away from me. "Heh, heh, heh, now it wouldn't be a punishment game if you did the regular stuff like us."

He takes another shot at me before running away and hiding in some bushes. Apparently, he isn't the only one since I see only four other kids, leader boy, Ai, the big kid and the youngest girl who wants to get behind me. Ai and the big boy take positions left and right from me while leader boy stays in front of me.

"Say, Geezer, why are you late anyway?" He seems relaxed.

"Will it make any difference?" Honestly, I doubt it will.

Leader boy puts his head to the left and then to the other side. "Ah, I don't know." He sighs out. Okay, I'm sure there is something though I'm not sure whether it's something good or bad. "You know … there is a ninth water gun. If your excuse is good, you may get our last one. Geezer."

"Really?"

He shrugs at me. "Sure. We only want to have some fun. However, it must be a really good excuse."

"Err..." I retrace what has happened today. The prank, a nice one, the time in the library with all those new revelations, the training session that was interrupted by Hinata and her fainting though what she told me is useful, then in the shopping mall these two girls and after that more revelations by Hinata.

Leader boy smirks. "Don't wait for too long, Geezer. You could die anytime. So, what's your answer?"

Hmm, I have overrun some in the library but the thing with Hinata made me late. "Hin-, euh, a girl I know kept fainting three times and I sort of had to stay with her. Also, we ate crepes together later, you know as compensation."

"You have cheated on me with another girl already, you two-timing casanova!" Ai accuses me.

I turn left to the direction of where Ai's shout came from and want to yell back. However, the words of the nine-year-old girl with her water gun on my right side who is less than a meter away halt my reply. "You are dead, old man." A yellow stream of water hits me in the right side. Suddenly, I'm also hit from behind. What is more, leader boy comes closer while shooting at me.

Okay, there is only one way out: Ai. Her look tells she will play against me, too. Her eyes are literally burning. Seriously, why is she angry? Man, I don't get girls at all. Anyway, I have better things to do than worrying about that like getting away before I'm completely soaked.

I start running directly towards her. Then she pulls the trigger and water comes out though it's pointed a little low. Does she want to .. oh no, she won't make it look like I have pissed myself. I turn abruptly to the left between her and leader boy and bring up my right leg to give Ai no chance. For a few meters, I hop on my left leg before I sprint fully towards a group of trees. After looking over my shoulder, I see only Ai pursuing me. The other three are hiding now, too.

Seven kids with water guns are hiding all over the playground and Ai is following me. If I don't want to get more wet, I have to pay attention to every single detail or they will ambush me. First, I run behind one of the trees which should be a safe spot.

When I'm behind the frontmost tree, I take a look around me trying to find the other kids while watching Ai from the corner of my eye who is walking leisurely towards me now while taking a few deep breaths and firing at me occasionally.

"Come out, Geezer. You are already dead, now it's going to be a massacre." Ai says in a low voice without emotion.

"What are you talking about? I'm not dead." Also, why did Ai change like that? "And what about this massacre? It's just a game."

"Rule number two: All games are taken seriously, the aim is always to win at all costs." It sounds like she is quoting it from a rulebook. "In your case, you were hit from the left side, the right side and from behind. Imagine these hits as those by kunais, knives or needles. In real life, you would be dead." She makes a short pause. "Since we have already killed you, our mission is complete. The only reason we are chasing you is because we still have much water left and want to use it all up."

Does she really mean all that? The hard look of her eyes confirm that everything was completely serious. I go behind my tree fully again. Gone is the cheerful, boy-crazy girl from before. Instead she is replaced by a determined, cold person who takes pleasure in hunting me. She is stalking towards me, only a few meters away, certainly prepared to shoot anytime. I hear the earth grinding against her shoes with each step becoming slightly louder with each one. Around me, the wind picks up making the leaves rustle, some twigs also snap. I chuckle. She knows I have to leave this tree soon as do I. Well, I won't let them catch me off guard anymore.

"I have three things to say. One: I have thought this was just a simple game but I'm going to play it like you guys now, with the intent to win." I pick up some small stones. Getting hit by them will hurt some but it does no real damage. "Two: You believe a few kunais and knives or some puny needles are going to kill me. I have survived far worse and all of this only makes me reach my dream all the more." My heartbeat rises. I prepare myself mentally and physically for what I plan to do. "And three: You think you are chasing after some weak prey, an easy target. I'm your opponent and I'm going to fight back and win against all of you!"

As soon as I finish my speech, I throw my stones at Ai who holds up arms to protect her face and jump towards her. After taking her water gun, I shoot her in the face.

"You are dead." I state at which Ai nods. I lower my weapon.

Next, she takes her arms from her face. Most of the yellow water flowed along her arms but some reached also her forehead and her nose. Water drops gather on the tip of her nose and fall on the ground every few seconds. She holds out a hand with smile like the Ai I know. "Good game, cutie."

Blushing a bit at being praised, I grab her hand with my free hand. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm going to wipe my face and my arms with a towel. Luckily not too much water landed on my clothes." Then she leans forward and kisses my right cheek. "Take care and good luck."

Huh? She kissed me. Why? Wasn't she angry less than a minute ago? Ai giggles at me. I must look really funny right now. "Why?"

"I'm going to show you no other girl can compare to me." She says while smiling confidently. "By the way, the punishment game is still going on."

"Oh right." I turn around facing the bushes right of the trees where one of the kids should be. While I pump more air into the water gun I start circling the bushes with some distance so that I can still react when someone attacks me from there. If I see or hear something out of place, I'll pull the trigger.

There! That was definitely a clean hit. Someone stands up with his arms and his water gun held up. His left side is yellow from his arm to his hip. It's the 11-year-old boy with the throaty voice. "Congratulations, Geezer."

"Thanks." Barely managing to finish my word, I have to evade two shots from behind. I roll on the ground and hide behind a tree. One of my pursuers, the 10-year-old boy, is spotted behind a tree opposite of me but where is the other one? He has to be somewhere over there, too.

Once the one opposite of me starts firing right, I hear a grating noise and then someone landing. He must have hidden in one of the trees and runs towards the left side. I try to spot my second attacker though I have to be careful. If I poke out my head too much, that 10-year-old boy can hit me.

Suddenly an idea pops up in my head. I run away first to get out the range of the water gun which is about 7 to 8 meters and next, I find the other one, shoot him and take his water gun. That is if I don't get shot first. Like I have asked for it, a shot comes at me shortly after I have left my place. I snap my arm up and block the shot with my water gun.

"You?" The 11-year-old boy I have hit before continues shooting at me with his water gun in his right arm stretched out and his left arm close to his body hanging down. I frown in confusion.

"You should have killed me, Geezer when I revealed myself." His voice is as emotionless as Ai's. However, combined with his quiet, throaty voice and his cold eyes, it gains a new quality. "You will regret that mistake greatly." His whispered words sound like a death promise to me. So caught up in this atmosphere, I don't notice my surroundings anymore.

Not until I get hit by two shots in my back from left and right a few moments later. Trying to escape, I walk back as fast as possible while using my water gun as a shield. However, I stumble and fall on my back. As water continues to drench my clothes, I hear them all running towards me. More and more water guns join this massacre, as Ai called it, each with the desire to get a piece of me. When someone shoots at my face, I lift my arms to protect my eyes and my nose from the water. Also I accidentally swallow some of the water which makes me cough out the water and leaves a bad taste that I have to resist the urge to vomit. I'm not sure for how long they have continued this but I'm glad when it's over.

I open my eyes slowly taking a look at myself first. My hands and my arms are completely wet and yellow. I stare down at my clothes although it's unnecessary to do so. They are tinted yellow and cling uncomfortably to my body. Even my boxers are soaked through. The kids really left nothing dry on me. As a slight wind blows through the playground, I start shivering despite the fact that it's hot today. Probably, I'm the only one who feels cold at the moment.

"You have lost." Leader boy states.

"Yes." I grit out. In the end, I only got Ai. This after my great speech. I barely put up a fight against them. My fists are clenched tightly.

Then, two hands are held out in front of me. I look up and see that it's Ai and the overweight boy. With their help, I stand up.

"Please, don't take it too badly. As a punished one, you can not win a punishment game." The big kid tries to comfort me while Ai dries me off with a towel.

"Yeah, don't even try it cause you have no chance, Geezer." The youngest boy taunts me.

I point a finger at him. "Pah, that was only the first game, brat. I'm going to win the next one for sure." I seng the boy a fierce look. That's when I feel someone grabbing my butt and hear a moan from Ai.

"Hoh. So tight. Mmmh."

A shiver runs down my spine. At the same time, I feel my face heating up. The smallest boy averts his eyes by turning his head to the side. I also hear the youngest girl mutter 'Disgusting.'. After Ai grabs me again, I jump away from her. In her eyes, there is a somewhat glazed look.

The big boy reacts quickly by taking one of Ai's arms and turning her so that she moves to the 10-year-old girl. I don't know how but Ai stops before running into the other girl even though her upper body bends a bit forward which is somewhat weird. Next, the other girl wraps her arms around Ai's head and back and pulls her tightly to her chest. After a short struggle, Ai calmly rests there.

"I guess she is comfortable now."

"Whatever, I think it's rather the lack of oxygen."

"Lack of oxygen?" Huh? How? "Hey, you have punched her!"

She just shrugs at me. "You can have our crazy Harem Girl back if you want, Geezer."

I stare at Ai. "Err... "

"Thought so." After a short pause, she speaks again. "Before the game, you wanted to tell us something. What was it?"

I've already forgotten about that. Can I simply tell them I won't play with them anymore? I bite my lower lip. Aaargh, why is this so hard? It's only playing with a bunch of kids. I shove back my uncertainty and say my next words clearly. "I won't come back to play with you."

At first, there is no response. Then, I hear a snort from the youngest boy. "You are only hot air and a waste of our time. Get out of our sight."

Okay, I have expected disappointment but I won't let him get away with that. "Hey, it's not like that. There are some important tests soon and I have to pass them."

"Even though you have not explicitly stated it as one and the circumstances in which it was declared are questionable, you did issue a challenge which you are receding from now. This leads to a stain of your individual's honor and reliability that creates a need to scrutinize and reevaluate our impression of the person named Geezer."

Uhh... I'm not sure what she said. These words were too high for me but at least I'm not the only one. The other kids are as clueless as me with the exception of the 10-year-old girl who watches me calmly and the 9-year-old boy who is still trying figure out what she has said.

"I think Nutc- she means that you first promised to him.." The 9-year-old boy points to the younger boy. "that you would beat him, then backed out and now we need to think whether you are worthy of us, Geezer." After that he looks uncertainly to the girl again.

She nods. "The most important points are in your summary. What do you have to counter that, Geezer?"

"I really have to learn hard and train hard."

"For what." The 10-year-old girl presses calmly further.

I'm not sure if I should tell them but I want to get clean out so the direct way is the best way to do it. "I want to become a ninja, the best ninja in the world. And I have to pass some tests first for that."

"So you go to ninja academy, too?" The leader boy asks.

"Yeah."

The leader boy continues. "That's weird cause I've never seen you there."

"You are academy students, too."

"Yes. I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out. What about you?"

"I'm new to Konoha. It's only my second day here." I don't like lying but I won't give up my Ryu Takou cover. That's really my second day in Konoha in a way. Instead of a fight for survival, I live in Konoha now. I guess I'll stick with half-truths.

"Now, I understand. You have be tested so that you join in the right semester." The big boy mutters though everyone understands it fine.

"You got it." Man, I'm glad don't have to make up more things. "Honestly, I'm short on time."

Leader boy shrugs. "Your status hasn't changed. You still have to figure out our codenames and you are still on probation, however don't miss out too much or we might decide we're better off without you." His look gets serious next. "Also, when you see us in academy, don't use our codenames, Geezer."

I merely nod. They sure take being ninjas serious. It's so completely different from the attitude in my class. It must be because Sasuke and his fangirls are missing. For most of the girls, academy is only about impressing Sasuke. Many of them won't become ninjas I think, not Sakura-chan though. She will.

However, I know my own ninja career hangs by a thread before it has even started. "Ah, I should get going. See you some time."

As I return to my apartment with my backpack, I sigh in relief that I can keep my friends. Maybe it's stupid to feel this much about them after merely two days but I don't care. They may be younger, I'm their 'Geezer' after all, and I can't hold back laughing at myself after thinking this. They are real friends I think, no I know. I will trust them.

After I enter my apartment, I walk over to my full-length mirror and deactivate my transformation. I'm Naruto Uzumaki again, though I'm still wearing Ryu's clothes which are too large for me. I set the backpack down, slip out of Ryu's clothes and change into mine.

When I see myself in the mirror, I start to feel sad. It's been a long time since I have felt that way about myself. At some point, I simply stopped thinking about my lack of friends and family and accepted my situation. I set a goal, becoming the strongest hokage ever surpassing even my idol, the fouth hokage. I can't describe what happened next. The closest thing would be that the world blurred around me and the villagers became merely part of the surroundings. The pranks are merely a part of my training like kunai practice or jutsu training, the most enjoyable part I have to admit though. Angry villagers and hearing them talk about my pranks are just additional payment of a successful prank. It's not like I really seek recognition anymore.

But now … I can't help but compare these two lifes. It makes me realize how much I'm missing out as Naruto.

No, no, no, this is not the time to be depressed and stare at the mirror. I move my left to the place where my heart rests. It pounds strongly against my chest and my hand in a steady rhythm.

My heart is still strong.

My eyes shift to the book behind the wall. "Thank you."

After showing gratitude to my most precious object in the apartment, I walk towards the books from academy. Yeah, yeah, I have much to learn. Sigh.

As I reach out to one of the books, I stop millimeters away from it. Memories from today resurface. Can I trust them? The instructors? Certainly no. The books I got from them? I bite my underlip. I don't think so. Who knows how they tweaked these books. However, what information can I rely on if not those I get from academy?

Rushing back towards my backpack, I arrive there in seconds. After pulling out the notes I made about jutsus today, I grin. These notes come from library books. They don't judge you like the instructors. Everyone with a thirst for knowledge is welcome, whereas I can practically see the ill intentions oozing out of the other books.

After I take a shower, I practice the jutsu exercises according to my notes with my own finger twitches for the next few hours.

Things are changing and they are changing for the better.

* * *

released on 02-21-13

* * *

Translations

michibiku - to guide; to lead; to show the way; to conduct (I have only chosen 'michibiku' because I think it sounds better than the nouns.)

hosa - aid; help; assistance; assistant; counselor; counsellor; adviser; advisor


	3. Starting: Part 3

The Fox that wants to be a Dragon

**Starting Chapter**

Part 3

Day 3

* * *

I feel bright sun rays shining into my eyes. Instantly, I turn away to sleep for a little longer but I'm still waking up. Apparently I fell asleep while I was doing my chakra manipulation exercises last night.

When I stand up, I notice that my back feels cold and stiff. Must be cause I leaned against the apartment wall the whole time. After some stretching I get the feeling out of my body.

During breakfast I ponder what I should study today. As much as I despise it, I need to learn for the normal subjects like maths, geography and history. The written part makes up half of the whole exam after all, even though I doubt it will really matter later on.

Soon, I leave my apartment as Ryu Takou and head for the library. I see the old librarian from yesterday opening the door. She seems surprised to see me but greets me friendly.

"Good morning, young man."

"Good morning, um … librarian-san."

She laughs a bit at my attempt at friendliness to her but she proceeds with her tasks. "The library is open. You can enter."

After half an hour, I'm holding a huge pile of books that cover all of the written subjects: maths, Japanese, history, geography, mixed science, psychology, biology and logic/deduction skills. It's a rather shaky construct though. As I look to the side, I spot some empty tables and set the books down. I divide them into smaller stacks, too.

Let's see … at which subject do I suck the most? It's history then.

I'm not sure how much time has passed. Another yawn escapes my mouth. God, this is boooooring. At least, I got through this whole book. 200 pages telling me facts that barely have anything to do with today. Only the last 20 or so pages that deal with the reign of the fourth Hokage till today are somewhat interesting.

However, even that doesn't really get close to me. I guess that's the reason why this is so tough for me. For example, the history says that ten thousand people died during the Kyubi attack, thousands were injured, many lost their home and their property. It's not that I'm not appalled by what happened. It's just that it's true and all … but it's not the truth. The thing is the book lacks emotions. Maybe I'm asking too much but the history books only string facts together and show statistics on casualties or on how much profit was made. However, in my opinion history can't be measured by just numbers but you also need to show how people felt. Without it, it doesn't feel .. human.

I have really gotten off on a tangent. I decide to take a short break after this hard task.

About a quarter hour later, I return to my place. Instead of continuing with another hard subject, I pick an easy one this time. I open a book with many small puzzles. Honestly, logic is the coolest subject in academy. You get a sheet of paper with many riddles on them, often even with drawings next to them. The situations are ninja-like in contrast to the book I'm using for practice but they are essentially the same puzzles.

Let's see … Riddle 1 (easy): Yoshiro's buckets

Little Yoshiro has two buckets. One can hold 3 liters and the other one 5 liters. He tries to have 4 liters of water in a bucket and waste as little water as possible.

How many times does he have fill a bucket? How many times does he have to fill water from one bucket to another? How much water does he lose?

Okay, I can do this. He wants 4 liters and has a 3-liter-bucket and a 5-liter-bucket. Somehow, I need to get 4 liters into the larger bucket since the smaller one can't contain it. Now how to do this. I fill the 3-liter-bucket first, then fill it into the larger one. Maybe I should try again. I can't put all of the water into the 5-liter-bucket. One liter is left in the smaller bucket. Hmm, what next? Ahh, now I know. I empty the larger bucket, put the rest in the smaller bucket in there, fill the smaller bucket, put the water in the other bucket again, et voilà done. Hahaha, I'm good.

I flip to the answer pages to confirm my solution: 3 times, 3 times and 5 liter. The book says otherwise: 2 times, 2 times, 3 liters. I read the explanation.

Little Yoshiro fills the 5-liter-bucket, then fills 3 liters into the smaller bucket, empties it, fills the rest into the smaller bucket (2 liters), fills the larger bucket again and fills up the smaller bucket.

Damn, it's right. Well, I'll try another one. Riddle 2 (easy): The stolen treasure

A dog, a cat and a rat stand next to each other in that order. They are asked who stole the treasure.

The rat : "It was the dog!"

The dog: "It wasn't the cat!"

The cat: "It was someone next to me."

Who is lying and who is the culprit?

Riddles like that in which people lie, are the worst sort. My usual trial-and-error method gets really complicated with those. Jumping from one conclusion to another and then the next one isn't one of my strength which is necessary however.

Still, this puzzle should be doable since this is an easy one. What if the rat is lying? Then, it must be either the cat or the rat itself. 'It wasn't the cat!' is right, when the rat or the dog are the culprit and 'It was someone next to me', too. Wait a minute, the dog and the cat are saying the same thing. Of course, the rat must have lied if the other two say something else! The rat is the liar and the culprit!

I check with the solution in the book.

Because the cat's and the dog's statements mean the same, their statement is true and the cat is not the culprit. In consequence, the rat must be the liar and the dog is innocent. Therefore, the rat stole the treasure.

When read the riddle again and then answer, I think the riddle is unfair. I mean why does there have to be a liar. If you actually believed that all of the statements were true, not only the one of the majority, then the truth would be different. There would be no liar and someone of the majority, the dog, would be the culprit, though it wouldn't be much of a riddle then.

I guess that's another reason why I don't like these types of riddles. You are told from the beginning that you should mistrust people but I genuinely want to believe that everyone is a good person on the inside. Though it's hard to do so sometimes like with the academy instructors. What could have made them act like they do to me?

I solve a few more puzzles. At some point my mind wanders towards my new friends and their codenames. That leader boy said that they are based on impressions and what is known about the person, maybe quirks or stories. Oh and all the names suck, probably, 'Harem Girl', 'Geezer', luckily not 'Child Molester' but the leader boy really considered that one.

His name surely will be something mocking his leader position. However, he was really confident that I won't figure out his name so there must be more behind it.

I wonder how Ai got her name … then again, I'm better off not knowing. What she said though about that 9-year-old boy was that I should start with him. I don't need to know him at all but what is left to make fun of then?

I have a good idea of what another kid's name is based of, that is if they are as cruel as I think they are. There are a few guesses about the other four's names but I need to gather more information.

The kids are not the only ones with mysteries. Fight's many small scars come to my mind. Should I ask her about that today? No, she and Noriko will show me some cool places and I won't ruin that fun.

After placing back the books I used, I leave the library.

I'm merely walking around randomly while doing my finger twitches. Only when I see a familiar wall and hear some noise from children, I realize that I have been walking towards the ninja academy unconsciously. It's break. At first, I think about simply turning around and leaving. I don't want to be spotted but on the other hand it might give me a chance of gathering information about the kids there. They are really sneaky and attentive, so I need to be careful. I can't hesitate too much either since the breaks aren't that long.

Maybe I should hide in one of the trees. No, the instructors aren't only watching the students but also observe the surroundings and look for suspicious things. I'm confident that I can manage not to get caught but I'd rather watch calmly.

I continue my way to front entrance of the ninja academy. I could walk slowly by the gate. Shaking my head, I dismiss this idea.

There is a better way. As I near entrance, I see the back of a teacher. It's his words however that make me stop. "I'm glad the Uzumaki brat isn't here. This makes the job so much easier."

This is the solution! It feels weird to say this but I can disguise myself as Naruto Uzumaki. I jog back as quiet as possible. After confirming that no one is watching me, I drop my Transformation. I pull off my white headband and put it into one of my pant pockets. That's when I nearly slide off my jeans. Do I need to hold them all the time? This sure feels awkward and probably looks even worse. Putting my hands inside the pant pockets and pressing my hands slightly against my body improves the image somewhat. Since I don't have spare clothes with me and I can't do a partial Transformation, that's all I can do about my appearance.

As Naruto, I enter the academy grounds. I ignore the teacher's comment about being late and search for a place where I can see everyone on the academy yard. The first ones I spot, are the 10- and 11-year-old boys without leader boy. They are sitting under a tree, eating their lunch without saying a word. I pass them on my way further back and sit down under a tree a bit behind them.  
In the middle of a group of eight boys stands the leader boy. He must be telling a good joke or some funny story because I hear them laughing loudly even thirty meters away. None of the guys are from the playground ground though.  
Ai has her own group, too. She is chattering happily with four other girls. Knowing her, it's likely all about guys. Seeing her like this, it makes her absolutely serious attitude during the last game seem surreal.

"Come back here, Tarou You've cheated! I know it for sure!"  
I turn to the direction of the shout. A familiar 8-year-old boy is chased by three other boys who are about the same age. _"__So his name is __T__a__rou__. It feels weird overhearing his name before earning his codename, as if it's something I don't deserve yet.__"_  
"Nya, it's your fault for being so stupid." He turns around and sticks out his tongue at the chasers. He and I laugh at their red faces. With the extra boost, they nearly catch up to him but eventually, the boys give up as they are out of breath.

Now, where are the 9-year-olds and the 10-year-old girl?  
The 9-year-old girl is scolded by a female teacher. So she is a troublemaker, too, huh?

The other 9-year-old is surrounded by three guys who keep poking his big stomach. He tries to fend off the pokes and moves back until he hits a tree. I see them say something to him, can't be anything good. I want to run over there and beat them up myself but Choji's expression of pure anger stops me. Wow, I've never known he could be like that. Choji literally throws them away and I'm sure he could have done far than that and spitting some angry words at them. However, an instructor interrupts before this starts to become really messy. After Choji calms down, he speaks to the 9-year-old boy, probably being friendly and giving advice on how to deal with being picked on. He has been an unassuming boy but he deserves respect.

Last but no least, the 10-year-old girl. Looking around, I freeze when I see her. Her eyes from all across the academy grounds are only focused on me. Even as students pass through, her expression doesn't change. Why is she looking at me like that? Does she know who I am? That I'm Ryu Takou. No, she can't know that. I'm only wearing Ryu's clothes. But Hinata saw right through the Transformation. She isn't a Hyuuga, she can't. She saw me dispel my Transformation. No, I made sure no one saw me. I wasn't good enough. No, I was. Or not? My head starts spinning from all these thoughts. What's happening? Meeting her gaze, I try find out if she does really know my identity. However, all I receive is this unbreakable, unemotional, cold stare. Even from this distance, I feel the arctic coldness and I start shivering involuntarily. My eyes are frozen on her eyes and my body won't move an inch away.

"Naruto!"

A shout snaps me out my state. I tear my eyes away and look at Iruka-sensei instead. He moves in front of me and crouches so that he blocks the spot I've stared at. Giving me a concerned look, Iruka-sensei asks affectionately. "Are you alright, Naruto?"

"I'm fine, I feel good, heh heh heh." My laugh comes out weakly but I can already smile.

Iruka isn't buying it though. "If you have any problems, academy related or not, you can come to me, Naruto."

"I know, Iruka-sensei." I reply a bit annoyed. On the inside however, I'm happy that there is someone I can turn to.

Iruka laughs a bit and sits down next to me. Across the yard, I see that the girl has left. The tension I've still been holding fades and I let out a sigh of relief. For a while, there is comfortable silence. Only the noise from the other kids disturbs this.

"Naruto?" I turn my head to Iruka. "Who was this girl?"

"No one." I respond quickly.

Iruka looks at me suspiciously. I know he only wants to help but this time I can't let him find out the truth.

Then, the bell rings.

"Are you feeling good enough for class?"

"There is something I need to tell you. I won't come to ninja academy this week. I will prepare on my own."

Iruka looks a bit disappointed. "I will accept this one condition." I nod. "You must study hard this week and be prepared for everything in the academy exams next week."

"I won't disappoint you, Iruka-sensei. This time I'm going to pass for sure!"

Iruka smiles at me, stands up and says goodbye before walking towards the building.

"Bye, Iruka-sensei!"

As I near the entrance, I stop. The 10-year-old girl is standing there. Seeing that I won't move, she closes the distance between us. "Can you pass on a message to Geezer? Today's game will betting, a fairly short game but it's a lot of fun. We would appreciate it if he could spare some time."

I gulp. It seems my worst case scenario has come true. Still, I can't just give up. "Erm, who is 'Geezer'?" I need to stall for now. Hopefully, I can come up with a plan to get out of this.

Her stare feels like she judging me and weighing options. I can barely suppress another shiver. "Never mind." After these final words, she runs off.

Disbelievingly, I watch her. Did I think too much about this? Has she really not figured out who I am? As much as want to simply believe that, my instincts tell me there was much more behind her eyes than a 'Never mind'. Exhausted from dealing with her, I can't think further ahead. For now, I'm merely glad that I can leave the academy grounds and this girl.

I stroll towards my apartment, trying not think about anything for at least the next few minutes. A break from this mentally straining day is what I need at the moment. That's when the inviting, delicious smell of my most favorite food reaches my nose. Instantly, my mood brightens. Ichiraku's ramen is truly a gift from heaven.

As I enter the ramen stand, I'm greeted by a smiling Ayame-chan. "Hello, Naruto-kun."

"Hi, Ayame-chan." I smile back.

From the back, Teuchi comes out to greet me, too. "Good afternoon, Naruto. It feels like an eternity since you have been here last time."

"Hey, I wasn't here just yesterday!"

Ayame and Teuchi laugh at this and soon I join them.

"What can I make for you today, Naruto-kun?"

"A large bowl of miso ramen, but better prepare more, Ayame-chan."

Ayame giggles. "Of course."

While she cooks my ramen, she engages my in some smalltalk. "You look different today. There isn't much orange except in the flame on your shirt."

"Um, I borrowed them from someone else. - But I'll return them right after I finished."

"I think you look cute in these oversized clothes."

Blushing, I scratch my head.

"Also, when you grown up, in a few years, you can make this look really good."

My blushing intensifies.

Ayame giggles again before setting down my bowl of steaming, hot ramen with two chopsticks on it in front of me. "Enjoy your meal, Naruto-kun!"

With the chopsticks, I put the first noodles in my mouth. I savor the salty, delicious taste of the noodles and beam at Ayame-chan for making another divine meal. As I praise Ichiraku's ramen in my mind, I continue eating my ramen. When there is only soup left, I grab the sides of the bowl and slurp down everything.

"Aaaahhh... the best as always, Ayame-chan." Seeing her blush, makes me grin at her.

"Up for another round, Ayame-chan?"

"Always."

Because she made preparations for me, the ramen is served sooner than before. While I eat, she is asking if something interesting happened recently.

How much can I tell her? I want to keep the connection between Naruto Uzumaki and Ryu Takou secret. Most of what I did recently was as Ryu Takou. The market, those kids, … ah, found something.

"Yesterday, I made an awesome prank in bakery. You should have seen their faces. It went like this …" During my description, she wrinkles her nose at the stink bombs but in the end she can laugh about the whole thing.

After I finish my bowl, I bid goodbye to Ayame-chan and Teuchi-san.

"Bye, Naruto-kun!" "Have a nice day, Naruto!"

I walk to a less crowded area and search for a spot where I can change back into Ryu Takou unnoticed. Then I put on my white headband, too.

Okay, what should I do? I could study again, I feel good enough for it, but that's something I've already done today (2 out of 8). Maybe, I'll work on another easy subject like biology. That's pure memorizing. However, at the moment I want to move. On Saturday, I've trained taijutsu so today it's athletics.

For the next three hours, I'm doing sprints, throwing fist-sized stones and jumping around a bit. After hearing a few seams tear after a jump, I grimace and examine my jeans. Should have left out the jumps completely after all instead of holding back. I sigh. It's nothing I can't fix but I need to stop or I'll make it worse.

When I arrive at my apartment, I head straight to the bathroom. I walk under the shower after having placed my clothes into two different plastic baskets (dirty, damaged) and having turned back into Naruto. I turn on the warm water, yet only cold water comes out. The landlord has turned it off again, that bastard. At least, it's summer so it's not that bad. While I shower, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do next. I have enough time to play with the other kids and later Fight and Noriko will lead me through Konoha and tell me lots of things. I will have to answer some of their question, too. That reminds me of a task I have shoved back a couple of times.

Who is Ryu Takou?

When someone pried further into my new identity, they hit a hole that I had to fill up with quick lie. I know if I continue this eventually, my disguise will collapse under these lies. So it's time for the next step. Ryu Takou has to become a person.

What do I know about him?

He is 15 years old. I know it even more precisely. His birthday was two days ago. He doesn't come from Konoha, should be somewhere in Fire Country or he wouldn't try to become a ninja here. But from where exactly does he come from? In "The Kingdom of Light", nothing is told about Takou's origins. In his childhood, he hasn't played with other children. I think there weren't many to begin with. So he didn't grow up in a big city but a small village. To realize his dream, he needed to leave his home town behind along with his family. No, he didn't have one. He has never known his parents and had to grow up on his own. He lived in his apartment, paid for his food and clothes, studied hard, … it's a lot like my life but he had many friends and he can make new friends quickly. The old man, Ayame-chan, Teuchi-san, Iruka-sensei, I guess Hinata-chan, too… that's it, the result of twelve years of trying in Konoha. In contrast, Ryu has gained eleven friends within two days.

At least a consolation is that I can be him as long as nobody knows who he really is and his experiences are my own.

What about his character?

Maybe, I should act like the original Ryu Takou, the dragon. Funny and mysterious, and childish and mature. No, the idea was to create a form he would take as a human but in the end my Ryu Takou is a creation of mine, just a human form of a fictional dragon. It's still all me though, Naruto Uzumaki, only in a different body. My second body, my second identity is a new part of me ... and I will do anything to protect this part of myself.

I finish my shower and dry myself off. Next, I turn back into Ryu and put on a new set of clothes. The white headband is still part of my look. The jeans I pick is with a lighter blue than before. This time I wear a dark orange t-shirt with a white drawing of a face that is biting its tongue and has an 'x' as its eyes. _"__I need to watch my mouth after all.__"_ That doesn't mean I won't smile though.

As soon as I finish, I meet up with the kids at the playground. They are gathered at a ping-pong table made of stone. Some are sitting on it while the rest are standing around it. Cards, dices, coins, different balls, marbles and various other toys are gathered in the middle. I see an empty spot at the ping-pong table and take it.

"Hi guys."

All of them greet me back.

"Good that you have arrived. We can start now. Because you are new, she will explain the rules." The leader boy gestures towards the 10-year-old girl.

She nods. "Everyone is starting with 1,500 chips and has to pay 10 ante each round. Black chips are worth 100, red 25, blue 5, yellow 1. The penalty is 50, no matter how many chips you or the others have and is paid clockwise. Also, you get a yellow card. After two yellow cards, you must put all of your chips in the pot and you can not bet in this hand. Anything that has at least two possible outcomes and has a clear result within a limited amount of time can be used for proposing a bet. The tools here are merely a help but everyone can only use them three times in the entire game without penalty. The topic, the outcome you bet on and the initial size of the bet must be stated and must not be corrected once you do. No one at the table must be forced directly all in because of the bet size though. A player with 1 chip before a new bet is the only allowed exception. Additionally, you need to finish your bet within thirty seconds. In the next ten seconds the other players must either 'accept', 'reject', 'double' or 'triple' the bet, starting with the one on left and then so on. It's possible to raise the bet size by saying 'double or 'triple' but with the same restriction as before. The winners get an equal part of the pot and in case no one wins, all chips go into the next pot. You need to bet on at least every fifth round, meaning that you stay in the pot until the end. The game lasts one hour unless we change it. The winner decides the punishment game for the last five."

I nod. There are many rules but they are plausible. The penalty for two yellow cards is very harsh though. "Let's get started!"

The 10-year-old boy hands everyone a small slip of paper. "Everyone writes down the bet size he or she is willing to make. The one with the highest bet size begins and has to bet at least this much. Then, we take turns clockwise."

Deciding that I don't want to start this game, I write down a '0' at first. However, I don't want to risk a penalty right from the start so I turn the '0' into a '1'.

"3. 2. 1." At once, all of us turn our slips of paper around. Many of them, wrote down a '1', too. The only exceptions are the three players on my right side. The 11-year-old boy wins with a '100' against the '90' from the youngest one, Tarou next to him and the 9-year-old girl ('45').

Sitting configuration:

11b – 8b/Tarou – 9g – Ryu – 10b – 11g/Ai – 9b – Leader boy – 10g (You should write that down on a small piece of paper.)

"It's my turn." The 11-year-old boy says with his throaty voice. "The number of pushes the mother at the swings is going to give within the thirty seconds after the last person has finished betting. 100 that it's going to be 8 pushes." By the end, he is visibly happy that he doesn't have to speak anymore and greedily drinks from his water bottle.

"I accept. 8 pushes." The 8-year-old boy decides quickly and places 100 in the middle.

"Reject." Comes immediately from the 9-year-old girl.

This fast answer gives me less time to watch. _"..__3 …. 4 ..__"_ "I accept. 8 pushes." I finish shortly before the time limit.

"I reject."

Three more rejections follow quickly.

"I accept. 9 pushes." The 10-year-old girl finishes her reply shortly before another push.

Especially with her, I get the feeling this can't be coincidence. Indeed, the ninth push comes in time and she gets the 490 chips in the pot.

Tarou shoots her a dirty look. However, then a toothy grin forms on his face.

The 9-year-old boy, the 10-year-old boy and Ai shiver from it, even the composed 10-year-old girl gulps and I hear the leader boy mutter. "This is going to be messy but awesome."

"When I hold the content of my right pant pocket against your neck, you are going to shriek. 300 on it." Tarou states happily.

Honestly, I can't imagine how this girl would shriek but I believe this evil smile of the boy could realize it somehow. "Hey, has anyone ever heard her shriek or something like that?"

"Well, some of our classmates managed to scare her once by distracting her and having someone -"

"I accept. 300 that she shrieks."

"- with a contorted demon mask sneak up on her but even that wasn't much of a reaction, only jumping back a bit and telling them not to do it again."

"300. Shriek." I'm close to the time limit again.

The 10-year-old boy rubs his forehead. "You don't do anything half-ways but this is tough." He takes a deep breath and waits with his decision until the last second. "Reject!"

"It's too much." Ai shakes her head. "I reject."

"I agree. Reject!" The 9-year-old boy also rejects the bet.

"300. 300." The leader boy bites his underlip and looks up. "Such a painful size. Such a hard decision. I hope my gut is right. Double. Shriek."

"What about you? Taking your time, too, ne?" Everyone watches the youngest boy who sits on the ping-pong table, leaning a bit back on his arms. He radiates absolute confidence.

It's the girl who is supposed to shriek who has give her decision about to bet now. "600. I won't shriek." She counters firmly.

"Always this theater with you." The 11-year-old boy looks at the younger boy on his left side. "600. She won't shriek."

"Kehehehehe. Double. 1,200. Hahaha."

The 9-year-old girl slammed her left fist onto the ping-pong table. "This is ridiculous! 3,090 chips are in this pot and that's not even half of its possible size! Damn! I accept and you better have something good or I'm going to beat you black and blue!"

"Same goes for me. I'm counting on you. Accept!"

The other two accept, too.

The pot is now 7,290 chips large. Everyone in the pot needs to win it, I, the 11-year-old boy and Tarou the most. We are at only 180 chips. The others are a bit better off: 280 chips the 9-year-old girl and leader boy, 670 chips the 10-year-old girl. Ai, the 9-year-old boy and the 10-year-old boy haven't accepted a bet yet and have 1,480 chips.

Tarou rubs his hands together and grins maliciously. "You are going to get your punishment soon, -" He stops for a moment, I'm sure wanting to call her by her codename. "- freak, but I need to prepare a bit. Turn around, will you? I don't want to ruin the surprise."

The 10-year-old girl crosses her arms in front of herself. "No. You haven't included this part in your bet so I don't need your request. In fact, I'm quite curious about what you are going to do."

Tarou shrugs. "It's not like it really matters. However, just to piss you off I add that you are not allowed to see what I have until the bet is over." Next, he pays the penalty. 50 chips go to the 9-year-old-girl, me and the 10-year-old boy. The last 30 chips go to Ai so that the 8-year-old boy has no chips now.

"You know if you lose now, you are out." I address the younger boy.

"Probably for the rest of the game. If someone with enough chips was stupid enough to pay the penalty, I would be back in the game. However, I won't need that." When his victim turns around, he pulls out a small jar with a green slime monster on it, a small, transparent, fogged bag that is filled with a white powder, water and an ice cube and another small bag with hairs, I hope not real ones.

"Make some noise for me!" The little boy begins to clap and we join him. While we continue clapping, he takes out the green glibber. Hairs are put on it and the whole thing is kneaded. The same is done with the powder. "I'm ready!" He walks up to the 10-year-old girl with his creation in his left hand and nudges her on her right arm to make her face us.

"Are you ready, freak?" Tarou laughs evilly. He moves her hair to the front so that her neck is bare and reaches back with his right arm.

"Yes, kitty cat." Despite her jab, she remains concentrated and tense.

A hard, meaty slap hits the girl's neck which forces her to bend forward and cough. But that's not the end. Next, the little boy places his left hand on her neck.

"IyaaAAAHHH!" The 10-year-old girl shrieks and straights up.

All of us laugh out loudly. I snort and clutch my stomach. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Awesome!" I have to wipe tears from my eyes. A look at the angry victim returns my full-blown laugh.

She is grimacing, her mouth open and frantically running her hands on her neck. Yet, she manages to sent the 8-year-old boy next to her a piercing glare.

"PFF-he-HAHAHAHAHA! Oh god, Hahahahaha!"

After a minute, we have calmed down enough to speak properly. All of us congratulate the 8-year-old boy, even his victim, though she is still grumpy.

"What was in that bag anyway?"

"Just my own special freezing mixture." Tarou points proudly at himself. "I prepare for all games and tests."

"Rather how to rig the games and bend or break the rules without anyone noticing." The 10-year-old boy comments.

The younger boy blows him a raspberry. "Pure jealousy."

I bet our pranks would be so awesome, it would blow everyone's minds. Also, his codename must have something to do with cats because the 10-year-old girl called him 'kitty cat' while she was called 'freak'. This second name leaves many codenames open while 'kitty cat' is a pretty good hint and it fits too. _"__H__is name __must have something to do with__ cat__s__.__"_

The execution of the bet was very sneaky. The boy knew that the 10-year-old girl was very tense and expected something that felt gross. If he had sprung his real trap then, the girl wouldn't have shown much of a reaction. My guess would be discomfort, shivering from the cold and jumping away because one, she is a hard to scare girl as her classmate confirmed and two, she was prepared for something to happen. From experience, I know that victims like that are a disappointment, the best ones are those that are caught unaware. The hard slap created that little opening, that short loss of composure he needed for his real trap to work and it went perfectly. There was another bit he needed: the extra rule. Without it he wouldn't have been able to surprise her, so he chose the penalty on purpose and he didn't even have to pay the full penalty. Most of his chips went into this giant pot. _"__He must have planned that too. 300 was the perfect size for the game he planned. __Something like 310 or 320 would have been too suspicious.__"_

My eyes widen and I stare incredulously at the small boy. "You have planned this all from the beginning."

"Why of course, the first thirty seconds decide how the hand is played out."

Meanwhile, the pot has been split up in four parts. I and the leader boy get a part, Tarou and the girl one chip more.

Next up is the 9-year-old girl. She pulls out a coin from her wallet. "I'm going to throw this coin two times. The right combination wins. Disjointed bets. It means that everyone must bet on a different outcome but there must be at least four possible outcomes, else you must pay a penalty. 1 on heads-heads. By the way, you are allowed to raise as much as you want as long as the bet size is 1."

I nod._"__There are only __four combinations. That means most of us won't play in this hand.__"_ "100, tails-heads."

The next two players bet on a combination, too. The other players must reject because no combination is left. The 9-year-old girl pays and in the end, I win.

"Your codename is the named after a cat." I point at the youngest boy. "I bet 1 that it's true."

Tarou laughs. "You are really close, Geezer."

"80. The statement is true and false."

"What?! You must be kidding!" My head snaps to the 10-year-old boy next to me but the others are betting on the same thing. The eleven chips I invested in this pot are distributed between the eight winners.

"How can this be?" I mutter.

"Don't think too much about this. It's fairly simple." The leader boy replies. "How about we let him do another bet? This was nothing more than a question." The others nod.

"Come on, Geezer, there must be some talent you have or are you going senile." A challenging grin is sent to me by Tarou.

After a few seconds, I get the idea for my bet. "I think a rematch is in order. I bet maximum that I can beat you all -" I put my on a fox-like smirk. "- without touching you or using weapons." All the kids around me bristle at that. "Yesterday was just a fluke, only a silly water gun fight. You have no chance of beating me in a real fight. You are all just little brats." _"__That's going to get them more riled up. I'm going to win against the eight kids and __extend my lead__.__"_

"I accept. We will kick your ass."

"You shouldn't underestimate us. I accept."

"You will lose against our teamwork. I accept."

"I accept. You will win." "What?! You are the leader!" I yell.

"I accept, too. You win." I stare disbelievingly at the 10-year-old girl.

The 11-year-old boy, the 8-year-old boy and the 9-year-old girl also bet on my win.

Honestly, I'm shocked by this development. My goal was to antagonize them all but now I have split the group. Three children are against me, the 10-year-old boy, Ai and the 9-year-old boy, and five for me.

"You haven't figured out why most of us want you to win yet?" I shake my head. "You haven't realized the perfect line-up you had for this bet?" Another shake of my head. "Look at the chip stacks of the three against you, more specifically their place."

_"__They have average chip stacks and they are fifth, sixth and seventh. What does that mean? I look at the other stacks. Second, eighth, ninth, fourth, third.__"_ I remember the last part of the explanation. The winner punishes the last five. That means only the top four are safe. "Ah, now I get it. You three want to get away from the rest like me and you two want to get more chips for higher bets and keep the distance to the fourth place in this bet. The enemy of my enemy is my friend." A laugh escapes my mouth. I'm truly amazed at this much cold calculation and how easily they turned on each other.

The 10-year-old girl nods. "Bingo, you got it all but in truth, you intended to win against all of us."

Embarrassed, I scratch the back of my head. "Yeah."

"Hmm, in chess this situation would be like a king trying to take pieces by only running away. Something must be missing in my image." The 10-year-old girl rests her head on her hands. Then she lifts it again and stares with the same intensity as before at academy in my eyes. "I see. Maybe sometime you will tell us." _"__I doubt she only means my plan.__"_

"You must know some long-range jutsus." The 9-year-old boy guesses.

"Hehe no, I don't. It would be cool though."

The fight doesn't last long. First, the 9-year-old boy is beaten by three children, then the 10-year-old boy, too and Ai gives up when it's five versus one.

The following bet by the 10-year-old boy is another bet with coins. He takes a gold, a silver and a bronze coin. Then, he takes a step back and starts to juggle. I decide to watch the silver coin since the gold coin and the bronze look so similar. Nothing looks suspicious. Suddenly, the 1ß-year-old boy puts his hands together. You can hear the metallic sound of coins hitting each other. He closes his hands so that the backs of his hands are turned to us and moves his hands so that his arms make a cross. Next, he holds up his arms and separates them. In the end, his forearms are held vertically and his upper arms horizontally.

"It's another disjointed bet and one of the right combinations wins. However, this time it's which coin, where I hide it and whether it's heads or tails. The silver coin is in my right fist and head up. I bet 50 on it." Great, he picked the one coin I decided to follow. That leaves gold and bronze.

"That's one of your magic tricks." Ai turns to Tarou.

"Ha, I wouldn't call this a magic trick. It's simply a nice trick. One that's fairly easy to learn and control. You can even tweak the results a bit. His long sleeves are really useful for this."

After this, everyone simply rejects the bets until it's the 11-year-old boy's turn, the small stack at the moment.

"The bronze coin is in my left fist. Tails."

"Hey, can he just tell a one of the right combinations?"

"It's not against so he doesn't even need to pay a penalty." The 10-year-old girl answers me.

After a few seconds, the 11-year-old boy accepts. Next is Tarou. "I know where the gold coin is but I don't need this bet. Reject."

The 9-year-old girl reject, too, so that I'm the last one to decide. "Where is the last coin?"

"You want to take this bet?" I nod at Tarou. Three second he answers my question in a disinterested voice. "The gold coin is under his right foot." I stare at him. "So?"

"I accept. Gold coin, under the right foot, heads." Come on, let it be right.

In the end, it's a three-way split. The stacks haven't changed much in this round.

"I can't believe you took such a risk."

"Do you mean trusting you?" Tarou nods. "Did you want me to lose?"

"No. That's not it." He looks away. "I'm a liar and a trickster."

"But you told me the truth so it was right to trust you."

"You …" Tarou shakes his head and laughs. "You are so stupid." He grins and looks into my eyes. "You must be going senile, Geezer."

"Hey, take that back, baby face!"

"Who are you calling baby face?!"

While we argue, the others are laughing and suggesting to put 'Baby' before Tarou's old codename. The only one protesting is Tarou.

"No! My codename is good enough!" Tarou directs at everyone before he focuses on me. "It's all your fault!"

As I laugh along with the others, I feel a bit guilty. However … "It could be much worse."

Meanwhile, Ai has chosen the next bet. "The length of a full-tongue kiss. Only full seconds count. It will be..." I get a bad feeling about this. "between you …" I hang my head. "… aaaaand you."

"WHAT!" The leader boy exclaims.

"YES! Take your punishment, Geezer!" Tarou points with both index fingers at me.

"56 on 2 seconds." Ai finishes happily.

"I can't do that!"

"I won't kiss another guy!"

"I reject." (9b)

"That's right! I won't kiss one either!"

"Change the bet, Harem Girl!"

"I agree." I and the leader boy glare at Ai who pouts.

"But I want to see this soooo much. Can you do for me, pretty please?" She begs, staring at the two of us with big, watery eyes.

"I reject." (10g), (11b), (8b), (9g)

With each passing second, it becomes more and more difficult to resist. When she starts to sniffle, I can't take it anymore. "Fine, I will do it."

Being the sole focus her attention, the leader boy gives in a few seconds later. "Damn you. I do it."

"YAY!" Both of Ai's fist rise into the air. "And both of you must pay the penalty for taking too long, dears."

"I reject." The 10-year-old boy answers last.

The leader boy and I each pay 50 to everyone yet this is the pleasant part of the bet. I send the other boy an uncertain look. _"__Should we really go through with this?__"_

The leader boy squints his eyes and lets out a long sigh. "If we don't comply, we will get another penalty, our second, since the others won't cancel the bet."

"But I don't want to have my first kiss from a guy!" I complain, not whine.

"Don't worry! I'll help you!" Next moment, Ai is pressing her body against my left side. "It'll be good."

"What?! N-" She pulls down my head and presses her mouth onto mine. Then, she sticks her tongue into mine. As Ai explores all my mouth, I'm trying to bring my arms between our bodies and push her away.

"Gah!" After leaping a few meters from Ai, I pant for breath. _"__She must be a succubus or so.__"_

"Yummy!" She lips her lips and gives my a wide grin that sends shivers down my spine. _"__Oh, this is going to suck.__"_ "You are going to be my boyfriend!"

"No way! I'm never going to be your boyfriend! I didn't like the kiss! And there's the age gap, too!"

"I can be patient, dear." Her reassuring look does exactly the opposite to me.

The leader boy snorts. "I'll believe when I see it." The others nod.

"No need to be jealous!"

"I'm not!" Leader boy scoffs.

Ai is already very close him and pushes her mouth forward. The leader boy's fast reactions turn her attempt into nothing more than a peck on the cheek though and he can also put some distance between them.

"I'm not letting you get a full victory, Harem Girl."

"You are so cold to me. I was only trying to give you a good luck kiss so you get better." Ai pouts but then shrugs. "Well, 1.5 out of 2 is not too bad, especially the first one. I want much more of that." She giggles at the end.

I start to shiver again and look down at my t-shirt. Crossed eyes and biting the tongue drawn on it. "I knew I had to watch my mouth but I didn't expect it like this." I whisper to myself.

"You are a real slut." The leader boy says without malice, only very annoyed.

"Stringing along multiple guys is not slutty. It's greedy!" She replies happily. "You have been stalling for long enough. I still want to see you kiss."

When I and the leader boy face each other, we come to a wordless agreement. Mouth on mouth, tongue touch, pull back, erase everything from memory. That's the plan.

After the kiss, lasted less than a second, we are both red-faced and turn away from each other. I spit out my saliva as I hear him doing the same. The others insist that we repeat the kiss but I shake my head as fast as possible and pull my shirt over my head, asking myself what I got myself into.

"You are going to be the new stars of my dreams." Ai giggles. "Nice abs by the way."

Under my t-shirt, my face becomes green and redder at the same time. After the remarks about the kiss stop, I pull my t-shirt down.

The next bet by the 9-year-old boy is something amusing. We bet on how many items he is going to get by begging for food. A condition he imposes on himself is that he must tell everyone a story of how underweight he is and that he has been starving for months. All of us laugh at that. In the end, he wins the whole pot with a popsicle in his mouth and four coins.

The bet by the leader boy was one that made us laugh far over 100 times. Several muscles that I haven't known before are still hurting. The bet was how many times are we going to laugh when the 11-year-old boy is reading one page from a book he borrowed from his mother. The one who is closest gets the whole pot. The bet size was one chip less than what the reader owned and still owns.

Before we had to decide, all of us were allowed to skim through the page. No one could hold back his or her laughter. It was one of the last pages, a teary confession of love between a princess and her hero. Pleads to pick a shorter part were ignored by the leader boy. With the boy's throaty voice reading, we became nothing more than a laughing mess. By the middle of the page, every time the 11-year-old boy was about to start somebody couldn't hold back his laugh and the rest of us followed like dominoes. The only ones that could resist were the 10-year-old girl and the leader boy, barely. We couldn't even make it till the end of the page and lost count. Actually, it was argued between 152 and 160, mainly between the leader boy and the 10-year-old girl and if you could even pay out correctly. The discussion was lasting for five minutes. In the end, all bets had to be paid back since no clear winner could be determined. No penalties were given either.

The leader boy shrugs. "It's not like the pots and the ranking are really the most important things in this game, it's the bets itself. Let's continue!"

The 10-year-old girl grumbles. "That's easy for you to say. You were happy with stalling for twenty minutes and preventing voice problem's win. I know I counted right because of my special memory."

"Drop it. The hand is over and you can't make larger bets. Finito. It's your turn."

The 10-year-old girl huffs in response.

I can understand both. While the leader boy is on the second place with 500 chips more than the fifth place, the 10-year-old girl is eighth. For her, it's about 1500 chips to the fourth place. The 11-year-old boy's win would have meant that the last would have been her who has about 400 chips. With her bet now, she would have been able to close the gap. However, because 11-year-old boy has less than 100 chips, the 1500 chip gap is practically impossible to close.

All in all, I have to agree with the decisions that were made. The bet itself was correct. It broke none of the rules and if we had been able to concentrate or had had something like an automatic counter we could have determined so the leader boy chose a very hard but not impossible bet. That we took so long and broke down completely was our fault.

Another part of the aftermath was also interesting but also very dirty. Especially, the youngest boy kept the discussion heated with his snide comments and the 9-year-old girl's throwing in of new topics added material to work with which prolonged the discussion further or more like beasts tearing into each other for just a few chips. These two truly enjoyed throwing fuel into the fire, with their evil grins they even looked like a little demon and a corrupted angel staring proudly at their work.

In the end, it was me who pacified the children. First, I grabbed the two youngest ones by their shoulders. "That's enough, you two." They flinched from my touch. Instantly, their demonic smiles vanished and their expression changed into on of guilt. "I'm not mad at you but we need to stop this."

We separated the others. While the two kids spoke to the leader boy a few meters away, I talked with the horde, first to all of them and then with each of them alone. Reluctantly, the five last children agreed that the bet couldn't be evaluated. The demands for a penalty were dropped, too.

However, even now tension is in the air. None of the five were happy with backing down, most prominently the 10-year-old girl whose turn it is.

"Who cares about the bet? The game is over in a minute. This is the last bet and there is no chance for me to get out of the punishment." She forces out of her mouth bitterly. "A penalty is the only chance but I doubt you are that stupid."

"Is that really all you are thinking about?" I shout at her. "What about the fun? Haven't you enjoyed the bets? Well, you couldn't enjoy his bet," I point at the 8-year-old boy. "… but me and leader boy here kissing was funny, big boy's bet was cool, too and even you have to admit leader boy's bet itself made us laugh the most." Seven nods of agreement follow. "So come on, think of nice bet."

"Fine." The 10-year-old girl sighs and closes her eyes. Some seconds later, she opens her eyes again. "How many codenames can you find out in this game, Geezer? I bet maximum it's going to be three. Everyone is only allowed to say one thing about a codename. I can memorize everything. -" She seems to bite back one more comment, I think it's about the previous bet.

"I you switch me on and take the first part of my codename literally, I'm as loud as an explosion. Four names." _"__Hmm, it must some device that works with electricity ...and it's as loud as an explosion, literally.__"_

"I reject. Two names. My cat's name is Britanny or Brit'." _"__How could that help me!?__"_

"I reject. Two names. Some of other members of this club can be as cruel, tricky and traitorous as devils from hell, but I'm different. I simply hate the world." _"__What happened to her __that could make her say that__?__"_

"I still think there is a good core inside of you, all of you! And with your help I can get all your names, believe it! I accept! Seven!" I exclaim confidently. The others gape.

"Are you sure? If you want you can correct yourself." The leader offers me.

I decline with a bright smile. "I trust you that you want to help and lead me to the right direction. The rest, I can think up on my own."

Silence reigns for ten seconds.

The 10-year-old boy breaks the silence first. "The thing that stands out the most about me is that there is nothing special about me. I have always been trying to find my own talent, to be or have something different but I'm mediocre at everything. The name I got makes fun of exactly that. The only thing I'm really proud of is being in this club … and I think you can do it. I accept! Seven!" He states with conviction.

Next is Ai. "You will tell enough about yourself, right Matsumoto-kun?" The leader boy Matsumoto nods. "You need the most help with her. Can I explain your abilities to him, Ryoko-chan?" Ryoko nods, too. "She is unable to forget anything from even before she was born."

"What?! How is that even possible?"

Ai shrugs. "I don't know. If you really want to know you can ask her. She can remember in detail what happened on a day without having to think about it."

"Does that mean she doesn't have to learn at all?"

"You don't understand what a curse that is! Everything she has ever seen, heard, touched, tasted, smelled or just felt is in her memory forever!" Ai takes a deep breath and continues in a lower voice. "She is going crazy from it. Without strong medication, she would … crack." Gulping from what Ai is implying I still understand that how she phrased it must be a big hint. "This should be enough, ignore the first part though and the debate. Seven names. I accept. To me, you are already a full member Good luck."

The 9-year-old boy takes a bit time. "This is more of a general advice. Our codenames are generally word plays that are laced with sarcasm and dark humor. Many of us are named the opposite of what we really are. Good luck, I hope you can guess all of our codenames. I accept."

Last is Matsumoto who is about to speak but I stop him with a hand. "You are only going talk about your name, right?" He nods. "Can I do the rest first? Else I might forget something important."

"No problem. I think it's going to be seven but I reject."

"You first." I point at the 9-year-old boy. "Ai said to me that I should start with you because I don't need to know anything about you. That means your codename is only about your appearance and well, you are overweight."

"You are right so far but you still have to guess my codename."

"Okay, I must make fun of your weight. Fatty Boy!"

"Fatty Kid!"

"Sumo Kid!"

"Bigman!"

"Super-size-Me!"

…

The other laugh at each attempt but so far I had no luck with them. Thus, I switch tactics.

"Bodybuilder!"

"Muscle Man!"

"Nice Curves!" More laughing.

...

"Big-boned!"

"Bones and Skin!"

"Starved!"

"Slim!"

The boy I have insulted so much in last few minutes interrupts me. "Slim is the second part of my name. The first name you mentioned was already very close to the first part."

_"__So not Fatty Boy …__"_ "Ah, now I know. It's Fatboy Slim."

The relief on his face is obvious when he and the others clap. Honestly, the same feeling is shared by me, nothing but relief. Even as some praise my creativity and repeat a few names, I can feel no happiness, rather shame grows with each word. I have acted like a bully with my name-calling.

"My real name is Koji. As for my codename, you can also call me Fatboy or Slim." The happy voice of the victim of my name-calling cuts through my guilt. "I think 'Nice Curves' was the best one." He laughs.

"That's something he should tell a girl. Like me!" Ai pouts. As she is made fun of and receiving some mock-sympathy, I remember that I have agreed to meet Fight and Noriko at 6pm.

"Can you tell me what time it is?"

Matsumoto looks down on his watch. "It's five fifty-six. You got something to do soon?"

"Nooo! I'm gonna be late! Sorry, I can't stay. I gotta meet Fight-chan and Noriko-chan. Bye!" I run as fast as I can.

"Who are Fight-chan and Noriko-chan!?" I wince at Ai's angry shout.

* * *

released on: 07-20-13

* * *

Honestly, I didn't plan to split a day this soon but I need a few more days for the last four scenes and I think you have been waiting for long enough. The rest of day 3 will be uploaded this month, I hope. Day 4 in September or October.

About the codenames:

Matsumoto/Leader boy (11): - I don't think you can guess his name at the moment.

11-year-old boy: - It's possible to find out his codename with the given hints.

Ai: - Harem girl

10-year-old boy: - You can't pinpoint the name.

Ryoko (10): - Her codename has already been nearly exposed, but you can also find it out with the hints.

Koji (9): - Fatboy Slim

9-year-old girl: - nearly the same as Ryoko. The codename is better hidden though. It's only one word by the way.

Tarou (8): - His codename is the easiest one. There have been plenty of hints.

Character descriptions will be added in part 5 of Starting (Day 4) which probably won't need to be split.


End file.
